Book Review

I am combining my book review with a movie review. I love Stephanie Meyer's book "Twilight" and the others that went with it. As with most people Twilight was my favorite book but it kept me wanting more. I am not so sure that Stephanie was too heartbroken when her latest book in the series was leaked to the internet. I think she was getting tired of it.

The day before Thanksgiving, Pam and I went to see the movied 'Twilight'. I went with no expectations because I have been disappointed too many times before. I didn't read the book before we went because I didn't want to compare too closely. I wanted it to be a new experience and it was. I enjoyed myself. I thought it was funny that when 'Edward' appeared - all the girls in the theater screamed. That made Pam and me laugh. There were some disappointing things that were left out of the book but here is what I found out.
1. Bella is portrayed as someone that trips over the flowers in the linoleum in the book. It turns out that they did try and do that for the movie but they pulled out all of the parts because they came off cartoonish and diminished from the movie rather than enhanced Bella's character. Whether this is the fault of the actress or the direction given - I don't know. Too bad someone like Sandra Bullock or Julia Roberts couldn't have played Bella. I know they are too old but they can play klutzy and get away with it.
2. There is a part where Robert Pattinson (Edward) plays the piano. It is beautiful. That is actually him playing the piano.
3. I was disappointed that the Cullens' didn't have bigger parts in the movie. Alice in particular should have had a much bigger role than she did. Rosalie took center stage in this movie instead and in the book her part is not all the big in comparison to Alice's. The Cullens' parts mostly ended up on the editing room floor. They had to cut and it ended up being the scenes that didn't affect the absulutely main line of the story. As with Harry Potter or any large book you have to realize it is either a revised movie or a mini-series.

I am glad it made enough to prove that a sequel can be made. I was leary of Robert Pattinson as Edward but he pulled it off. In fact the characters were all really well portrayed but I have to say that the best portrayals were the 'wandering' vampires. They were exactly as I pictured them - always. My other little peeve was that if they hadn't spent so much time with scenery they could have kept some time in with other story lines - but it does work well.

I learned yesterday that the house in Cleveland, Ohio where they filmed "The Christmas Story" is now a national landmark. It was dedicated for the 25th anniversary. I can't believe it has been 25 years. Well now the city that Forks was based on is also and national landmark because of 'Twilight.' Interesting what a movie will do for you.

Yes the books are about vampires. No they are not about vampires in the sense that Dracula is. It is truly a book of good versus evil and how people face those decisions in their everyday lives. If you haven't read the books - read them. You will be in for a wonderful adventure.