Twilight / Life and Death
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Lets just talk about this... please
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Kiera
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rated it 5 stars
Nov 14, 2015 11:07PM
If anyone wants to discuss this book, I would love that. Thanks.
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It would be helpful if you give people an idea or topic about the book that you'd like to discuss. Someplace to start... :)
I had to put it down because the book was literally exactly the same but some really poorly placed new material, bad name switches, and sorely unbelievable characters. Plus I kept thinking ahead to the rest of the series and realizing it wasn't possible and I was wondering if she thought ahead for that, and it kind of ruined it. Mostly though I was just annoyed that they changed everyone, it was horridly forced, and beyond that I could tell where the original material stopped and the new material began. Also, it was irritating that instead of releasing Midnight Sun, which is what everyone wanted, she came up with something completely different... Like, thanks, but all we wanted was Midnight Sun...
Basically, I found it slightly difficult to read because like it was so similar and just I'm not 100% sure why it was released but I'm glad it was
Basically, I found it slightly difficult to read because like it was so similar and just I'm not 100% sure why it was released but I'm glad it was
She mucked it up. I loved the characters in the original -- I couldn't connect to Beau or Edithe. She kept saying how the story remains unbiased by gender but her story proved exactly that. *SPOILER* Beau vamping out made sense because he wasn't going to give birth later. Author agreed that Charlie/Rene couldn't be swapped because it didn't make sense.
*sigh* I think she wrote the book for all the wrong reasons. She was trying to satisfy the non believers and honestly, non believers are just that... they'll never (hardly ever) come around. The feminist who hated Bella will hate Edythe and the people who couldn't handle Meyer's run on sentences will still not enjoy her writing.
Meanwhile, the story lost its charm for die hard fans.
I wish she'd written for her fans.
Finish off Midnight Sun. Write a prequel. Tell the story of the original wolves, or when the Cullens first came to Forks and made the pact. Tell the very very very rich story of the Volturri. So many other options would have been better.
M wrote: "She mucked it up. I loved the characters in the original -- I couldn't connect to Beau or Edithe. She kept saying how the story remains unbiased by gender but her story proved exactly that. *SPOIL..."
Preferably Midnight Sun... but yeah. xD
M wrote: "She mucked it up. I loved the characters in the original -- I couldn't connect to Beau or Edithe. She kept saying how the story remains unbiased by gender but her story proved exactly that. *SPOIL..."
Speaking of the Volturri though.... I agree with all your points, but one of the things I did find interesting was the change in story for the Volturri, not just gender swap. I would really appreciate a book about either universes on the Volturri's past and their politics, because honestly, that would be way more interesting and cool.
^^ Again, they were women = maternal instincts = kinderGENDER does play a role! Not in a negative way but its totally a part of the equation. Why fight it? Why not accept it.
Kiera wrote: "If anyone wants to discuss this book, I would love that. Thanks."M wrote: "She mucked it up.
I loved the characters in the original -- I couldn't connect to Beau or Edithe. She kept saying how the story remains unbiased by gender but her story proved exactly that. *SPOIL..." What is this book about.
I love the series but I thought Breaking Dawn was the last book. I just read it this year.
Naomi wrote: "I love the series but I thought Breaking Dawn was the last book. I just read it this year."Naomi, the author wrote this story to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Twilight's release. She's swapped genders, Bella is now Beau and Edward is now Edythe.
It was a little confusing at first for me, but after a while it got easier. I really enjoyed this book. I may have like it better than Twilight.
M wrote: "She mucked it up. I loved the characters in the original -- I couldn't connect to Beau or Edithe. She kept saying how the story remains unbiased by gender but her story proved exactly that. *SPOIL..."
I completely agree. Why fanfic your own work to refute the people who don't like your work anyway? They won't come around. And it's been done before, and done much better. Check this fic out:
Guarding Edward by katmom. The genders are swapped but it's done much better than SMeyer did.
SMeyer did an odd mix of keeping and switching gender stereotypes. For example:
Twi: "Billy did a lot of work on the engine."
L&D: "Bonnie had a lot of work done on the engine."
But Jacob/Julie still works on cars.
And in some cases, even though the gender was changed, the actions of character stayed the same. For example, Emmett became Eleanor, but Eleanor remained an aggessive, competitive character who was spoiling for a fight to kill Joss/James. She hovers protectively over her skinny boyfriend Royal. So the effect was just weird, like she was an Amazon.
So Meyer changed enough to get all the names and pronouns right, but didn't change enough to make it all work together.
^^ Good god!! Yes! Worked on cars got me really angry!
I really loved it.
The fact the Beau was a boy and still clumsy definately kept my attention. You dont read a lot about clumsy guys because it is unmasculine while in girls cute. I was afraid she'd take that out, but she didn't.
There were a few scenario changes that were changed such as the run in with the rapists. Instead of rapists it was people threatening to kill him. I felt like this was a food change. It help keep the swap from being completely the same and posed a different sceneario.
Another change I enjoyed is the whole "put your seatbelt on" thing. Edythe was proving that he was still a fragile human and would remind him and us of that when she would order him to put it on.
The alternate ending was perfect. There has been some debate on Stephanie choosing to change him because he was a boy, but I honestly don't think that was it. She wanted to see how Bella's and Edward's story would have changed, how the lives of her family woild have been changed. With her choosing to change Beau we got to see a funeral, a wrecked family, heartbroken friends, and new perspective of the story.
I think Stephanie made her point. If you are a human around vampires you're basically a bug in human eyes. Or in the author's version...a human surrounded by superhumans and supervillians. Bella wasn't a damsel nor was Beau...they were human.
The fact the Beau was a boy and still clumsy definately kept my attention. You dont read a lot about clumsy guys because it is unmasculine while in girls cute. I was afraid she'd take that out, but she didn't.
There were a few scenario changes that were changed such as the run in with the rapists. Instead of rapists it was people threatening to kill him. I felt like this was a food change. It help keep the swap from being completely the same and posed a different sceneario.
Another change I enjoyed is the whole "put your seatbelt on" thing. Edythe was proving that he was still a fragile human and would remind him and us of that when she would order him to put it on.
The alternate ending was perfect. There has been some debate on Stephanie choosing to change him because he was a boy, but I honestly don't think that was it. She wanted to see how Bella's and Edward's story would have changed, how the lives of her family woild have been changed. With her choosing to change Beau we got to see a funeral, a wrecked family, heartbroken friends, and new perspective of the story.
I think Stephanie made her point. If you are a human around vampires you're basically a bug in human eyes. Or in the author's version...a human surrounded by superhumans and supervillians. Bella wasn't a damsel nor was Beau...they were human.
Cassie wrote: "I really loved it. The fact the Beau was a boy and still clumsy definately kept my attention. You dont read a lot about clumsy guys because it is unmasculine while in girls cute. I was afraid she..."
You may have liked how she kept original characterizations with the changed genders. But I found the fact that SMeyer kept Beau just as domesticated as Bella completely unrealistic. I mean, what 17 year-old boy will voluntarily do laundry and cook without being asked? I've smelled a 17 year-old boy's room. They aren't doing their own cleaning, that's for sure.
Personally, I thought she kept Beau clumsy because then she wouldn't have to edit out as much to turn Twilight into Life and Death. She alludes to the fact that she was looking for a "fast and easy" project in the forward. She doesn't want to do the complete re-write that this project really needed to really do it justice. The problem is, she took a good story and messed it up. There was really no need to change the gender of every single character (except Charlie & Renee). Who the hell cared if the teachers were male or female? Even the clerk in the bookstore got swapped. What point did that serve?
Cassie wrote: "Another change I enjoyed is the whole "put your seatbelt on" thing."
This wasn't a change from the original. Edward says the same thing to Bella after she gets into his car in Port Angeles.
And that is part of the problem that this book had. It kept too much from the original. Plot, dialog, character personalities and roles were all kept the same from the original. She changed some things that couldn't have come from a girl or a boy, as needed. But other things (like Eleanor/Emmett still acting like an alpha male) made the story awkward. She could have done a much better job of this if she had tried.
Give the book a break. Stephanie was making some specific points. Bella wasn't a damsel in distress because she was a girl. She was a slow, weak, eminently fragile and nearly blind/deaf/without olfactory sensitivity human being in a world of immortal predators. If Bella/Beau's meeting with James/Joss in the ballet studio was ordained, then Bella and Beau were going to get shattered, irregardless of gender. She made one relevant change (the speed at which the Cullens arrived there)...and please, did no one consider that since Archie was more personally invested in Beau than Alice was in Bella that Archie may well have used his "Seer's" ability to *arrange* for the Cullens to arrive too late to stop the spread of the venom through Beau's system? I mean, if Archie saw it as foreordained as Alice seemed to...and was more blunt-force assertive about it than Alice was willing to be (a reasonable gender-related shift, given that as Archie saw it Beau was "supposed to be" Archie's future best friend) then it's entirely possible Archie did one tiny, utterly unnoticeable from the perspective of anyone else thing to slow the arrival of the Cullens down by 30-60 seconds. That reasonable supposition alone would bridge the difference between old content and alternate new content. One thing I would've liked to see if Stephanie Meyer was going to destroy Victor/Victoria's future revenge attempt via Newborn Army would've been to crush Victor by say...tossing Joss's shredded non-revivable corpse in Victor's direction. Victor *seeing* Joss's corpse would've gone further towards crushing a mated Vampire's heart and soul than leaving Joss/James's death an assumption for Victor/Victoria. I would've been able to believe Victor just swam out into REALLY deep water, allowed himself to sink, and then let the deepwater pressure do the work of a vampiric suicide much easier. I always believed Victoria was able to muster all that revenge-centric rage because she wasn't forcibly confronted with the reality of James's death. Look at what happened to Edward when he was directly confronted with what he believed to be Bella's death. All that said, this book does an excellent job of proving Meyer's point(s).
I actually liked that she didn't change much even though she changed their genders. I mean, can't a guy be domestic and clean? I know a few of them. I'm messier than most boys. Also, can't a girl work on cars? People have the right to do what they like. It felt like the book was say that men and women can have the same job or feelings. Ernest was caring and very paternal. Carine was the head of the family. It showed that a guy can be into fashion, a girl can be into baseball more than a guy. It showed that gender shouldn't define us. That is the message I took from the book.When I first started it, I made fun of it too. But the more I thought about it, I focused on all of those things. And the ending was just an alternate ending. It could've happened to Bella too.
And Beau could've lived through book 2 and 3 of the original story too, not 4 for obvious reasons.
Someone said gender does play a role. But it doesn't play that big of a role. I mean as a biological factor it can be important but to me it shouldn't be a social factor. A man and a woman are exactly equal. And this book to me seemed to say the same.
damn damn damn.......I'm going to have to read this turkey
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