I bought Breaking Dawn at Costco. For $12.50. I am glad I did not spend more on it. It wasn't bad, but, well, it left a funny taste in the mouth. I don't know what I was hoping for - perhaps less focus on the 'intimate relations' of our friends Bella and Edward. I
I finished all 754 pages in about 12 hours, including a few, well, about four hours sleep, so a total of eight hours. I feel the same way I felt after watching the Dark Knight: I do not regret seeing the movie, but it wasn't good for the soul.
I've been reading a bit of the definitions of Romance novels, and the subgenres, and strongly feel that with the usual problems of defining and categorizing things, it firmly belongs within this realm. Okay, I'll let it be in the subgenre of Paranormal Romance. I hope you noticed if you went to the Wikipedia article, that in the url there is the term Bodice Ripper. This is quite literal in this case. (Also, I don't know how I feel of Jane Austen being included, and lauded at one of the first Romance writers. hmm....)
That being said, I know millions of fans across the globe will love every scintillating moment, wishing that they were Bella (or Edward for the male fans). And that is where true problem with the book begins: it is being marketed as a Young Adult book. That, it is not. Parents, I know you won't be able to stop your young girls from reading the book, but please read it yourself so that you know what it contains, and what they have read. Please.
2 comments:
I have not read any of the books, but, hearing women/girls converse/gush/swoon about it for hours at work and other places, I began to suspect long ago that they were simply romance novels. Thank you for confirming my suspicions, haha!
This reminds me of the whole "The Notebook" phenomenon in Mormon culture. I heard the book was pretty racy, but "SO GOOD!!" and the previews looked romantic. Then I read one of those movie-rating reviews for parents to see how racy the movie was, and I was like, this movie is just about sex! How is this rated PG-13? I am embarrassed just reading the review!
I would argue that Jane Austin is not a Romance writer in the sense of the word and definitely is not the genesis of romance works. Northranger Abbey itself seems to indicate instead that she find Romance distasteful. I believe it is the film treatments that have perhaps made Jane's works appear to be that of what one would call Romance. It is true her works do speak of love and courtship but also of many other things as well.
I do notice something interesting though. When Jane is writing there is a distinct lack of mention of the War against France though many of her stories are contemporaneous to that conflict why is this?
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