# So, I Read Twilight **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 11, 2009, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-read-twilight/492774 "2009-04-11T21:20:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-read-twilight/492774/161 "2009-04-16T00:03:04Z")
> [@Rubystreak](#): > > I don’t think he breaks her bones, but he bruises her quite badly. The baby breaks her ribs while kicking and breaks her spine on the way out. This is what happens when you fall for the perfect man! How dare you insinuate he isn’t perfect if the author thinks so! I mean, she knows better than you do! ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-read-twilight/492774/162 "2009-04-16T00:04:04Z")
> [@shy\_guy](#): > > It’s young adult, I think. We discussed this upthread: Amazon classifies it YA, but Scholastic has it at 9-12. I’d say it’s more YA on content, but my middle school students are reading it. One wonders how this birth will be depicted if a movie is made of the book. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-read-twilight/492774/163 "2009-04-16T00:15:26Z")
I have found this discussion very interesting and entertaining. If nothing else, I’m glad I read the first book so I could laugh at the satires of the series! I truly cannot decide which I find more horrifying: that young girls are reading these and having every bad and stupid romantic impulse reinforced and embroidered, or that ostensibly mature women, who should know a lot better, are swooning with equally dewy-eyed naivetee over them. Anyway, this particular conversation reminds me a great deal of Fred Clark’s [odyssey to dissect Left Behind](http://slacktivist.typepad.com/slacktivist/left_behind/page/24/). He notes repeatedly that the authors have set out to do one thing (say, create a realistic apocalyptic world, or craft good Christian heroes), only to go in a completely different direction, seemingly unbeknownst to them (rather than provide a compelling backdrop, the world they create reveals their theology to be weird and downright execrable; the “heroes” come off as callous, twisted, and stupid). The other thing he notes is “meta-characters” who sometimes seem to peek through the atrocious, laboriously symbolic types and show something like believable characterization, again, without the authors seeming to realize it. I think he makes a pretty good argument in both cases, and in any event the analysis is hilariously entertaining to read. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-read-twilight/492774/164 "2009-04-16T00:52:15Z")
> [@Rubystreak](#): > > We discussed this upthread: Amazon classifies it YA, but Scholastic has it at 9-12. I’d say it’s more YA on content, but my middle school students are reading it. One wonders how this birth will be depicted if a movie is made of the book. I broke my tailbone giving birth to #1 son–it’s not uncommon (it is also not considered “the spine”), so there is some hint of possible realism there. Ok, maybe not. It doesn’t surprise me a bit that authors can attempt to write one thing and end up with something else entirely. IMO sometimes the harder you try to shove your message in to something, the more the truth about what you believe comes out. This works for non-religious authors ending up creating spiritual books and vice versa. If I were a maudlin, sentimental type person, I’d say that it’s God working through us in mysterious ways. Since I’m not, I’ll go for it’s the author’s inner morality or worldview that get expressed, one way or another. That is part of the genius of art, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-read-twilight/492774/165 "2009-04-16T04:27:22Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > BTW, did anyone hear that Stephen King said he thought she was a poor author? [Here is one fan’s reaction](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDQ2h4hrors). Hunh. Who knew that Ben Grimm had an angry younger sister? And back on topic: _Vampire baseball???_ You’re shitting me, right? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-read-twilight/492774/166 "2009-04-16T05:13:28Z")
> [@Rubystreak](#): > > We discussed this upthread: Amazon classifies it YA, but Scholastic has it at 9-12. I’d say it’s more YA on content, but my middle school students are reading it. One wonders how this birth will be depicted if a movie is made of the book. Scholastic can say the content of Twilight is designed for 9-12 years all they want, it doesn’t make it gospel. The YA designation makes sense to me and trying to shoehorn Twilight into a children’s book doesn’t make sense to my librarian sensibilities. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-read-twilight/492774/167 "2009-04-16T05:47:53Z")
I’m going to write a book about werewolves who glow under the full moon. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-read-twilight/492774/168 "2009-04-16T06:05:24Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Scholastic can say the content of Twilight is designed for 9-12 years all they want, it doesn’t make it gospel. The YA designation makes sense to me and trying to shoehorn Twilight into a children’s book doesn’t make sense to my librarian sensibilities. I couldn’t agree more that it’s YA content. If you read the thread, you’ll see that WhyNot stated that her mother would not allow her secondary level students to read it for free choice reading because she doesn’t believe it’s advanced enough. Frankly, strictly in terms of reading level, it’s middle school, 9-12. In terms of content, definitely YA. But if Scholastic is classifying it as 9-12, then it’s going out in those book order forms for elementary and middle school kids. You as a librarian and I as a teacher might object to that, but there it is, in black and white. ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-read-twilight/492774/169 "2009-04-16T07:44:17Z")
> [@Hunter\_Hawk](#): > > Hunh. Who knew that Ben Grimm had an angry younger sister? > > And back on topic: _Vampire baseball???_ You’re shitting me, right? Nope. And their baseball field is something like 2 miles across. Because they’re super fast! And they have to wait for a storm to hit so the sound of them hitting the balls and crashing into each other will be drowned out by the thunder. Because they’re super strong! This all happens about 3/4 of the way through the first book. A plot shows up at the same time, with the introduction of some real vampires who actually eat people. But they want to play baseball, too. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-read-twilight/492774/170 "2009-04-16T12:11:31Z")
One wonders if Meyers incompletely understood the old myth about the gods bowling when it storms. I can see her, nibbling at her pen, thinking… well, I want to make them godlike, but there can’t just a bowling alley\* in the middle of the forest. Hmmmm… I know! I’ll make them play baseball–it’s America’s pastime! \*apparently she has never heard of bocci or lawn bowling. I am intrigued by vampire baseball. It makes controversial ump decisions so much more interesting, no? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-read-twilight/492774/171 "2009-04-16T19:19:45Z")
Not to mention Bella doesn’t know what a strike is. C’mon, your step-dad is a pro. You may not be a sports fan, but Jesus, sweetheart!!! ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-read-twilight/492774/172 "2009-04-16T23:33:02Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Not to mention Bella doesn’t know what a strike is. C’mon, your step-dad is a pro. You may not be a sports fan, but Jesus, sweetheart!!! Remember, she’s lethal with a badminton racquet… ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-read-twilight/492774/173 "2009-04-17T11:50:10Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > [Quote=Guinastasia] > Not to mention Bella doesn’t know what a strike is. C’mon, your step-dad is a pro. You may not be a sports fan, but Jesus, sweetheart!!! Remember, she’s lethal with a badminton racquet… [/QUOTE] Do I want to know? ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-read-twilight/492774/174 "2009-04-17T12:04:19Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > Do I want to know? not really… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-read-twilight/492774.md?page=8)