Posted on 08/09/2008 12:41:57 PM PDT by wagglebee
A little over a week ago, the literary world was lauding novelist Stephenie Meyer, a Mormon stay-at-home mother, as the new J.K. Rowling amid the excitement surrounding the release of the fourth instalment in her "Twilight" teen fiction series, "Breaking Dawn."
Today, the bestselling book is the subject of a backlash that's prompted a group in the United States to organize a "return your book" protest.
On Amazon's U.S. website, a group of readers, led by a one-time bookstore employee, is urging former fans to return their copies of "Breaking Dawn" in order to deprive Meyer of royalties.
Employees of the Borders bookstore chain in the U.S. have reported that some copies are being returned by indignant readers. A representative of the Chapters-Indigo chain in Canada, where the book sold 100,000 copies last weekend, could not immediately be reached for comment yesterday.
"Seriously, folks -- don't burn your copies of the book, return them," wrote the protest organizer, nicknamed Baby Strange, on Amazon.com. "I think Meyer's fans would send a much more powerful message if, instead of a book-burning tour, they staged a book-returning tour."
What's the beef for readers? Some are complaining about Meyer's portrayal of her heroine, Bella, as being disturbingly desperate to hold on to her new husband, Edward the vampire. Others are taking issue with the book's focus on Bella's unexpected but post-marital teen pregnancy, while still others see an off-putting anti-abortion message in "Breaking Dawn."
About half of the Canadian readers weighing in on Amazon's Canuck website aren't happy with Bella's behaviour and the turn of events in "Breaking Dawn."
"Not only is this girl seriously melodramatic and clumsy, she's the most weak-willed and pathetic character ever written," wrote a 28-year-old Canadian fan named Claire R.
"She has said numerous times that she would simply 'die' if Edward ever left her. It's like her entire life revolves around him. What are you trying to tell young women, Ms. Meyer . . . don't girls have enough self-esteem problems already? Should they really be reading books about a girl who has no life outside of her boyfriend, a girl who readily admits that she would die if he were to ever leave her?"
Another Canadian reader, Annette from Vancouver, said she hated the way "Breaking Dawn" focuses on Bella's pregnancy.
"I think most readers would have settled for maybe a surprise pregnancy at the end (or something to that effect if Meyer really wanted a baby in this story), but the fact that it swallowed the whole plot just plain sucks," she wrote. "I was extremely disappointed with the fourth book. I want my money back."
Book industry observers say Meyer's entire "Twilight" series owes much of its success to its avid online following of young female readers, and many of the complaints about "Breaking Dawn" can be found on blogs and websites.
Some readers are taking issue with the anti-abortion allegory in "Breaking Dawn," an unsurprising element considering Meyer has described herself as "really, really religious."
I haven’t read it, either.
OK I see ...
I went back and actually READ the link...
“nice” books...
No pre-marital sex...
But every other kind of abuse and demonic goings on...
But HEY...
No pre-marital sex...
If the opposition doesn’t like the book; then don’t buy it.
Don’t go and scream not to buy the book or try to ban it just because you are for murdering babies.
That does seem rather odd, doesn’t it?
My guess is that the writer was just looking for an excuse to give free publicity to these people in hopes that others would follow their weird example.
This would be the way that the MSM and the networks would oppose baby killing if they weren’t in favor of it. They would turn this book into a made for TV movie.
They would try to denormalize the idea of slaughtering an infant in the womb.
Instead the liberal agenda is more interested in normalizing homosexuality with shows like Will and Grace and Two and Half Men, while banning smoking on screen like I Love Lucy to advance their “progressive” agenda to denormalize a behavior libs find offensive.
“No pre-marital sex...
But every other kind of abuse and demonic goings on...”
It’s fiction- there is supposed to be a suspension of disbelief. It sounds like the books have themes in them that offend BOTH Cons and Libs- kinda like Bill O’reilly, lol.
I am not for censorship. If there are obsessive relationships in the book, perhaps the parent could explain that that is not a good thing in real life, though it works in the book.
I wouldnt be surprised if the author is pleased that both sides of the aisle take issue with parts of her book.
LOL! This is the funniest post I've ever read!
I agree. My daughter isn't getting near these.
********************
Right. Because girls aren't influenced by romance, and certainly wouldn't want to imitate others.
..but after reading your link, I find the storyline very sick, abstinence or not.
And now I remember last week being in a bookstore, and all the employees were dressed to the 'nines' and said they were going to have a 'book party' and it was for THIS book...which I realized as I read all this.
Very disturbing....very sick.
what’s your view of Jackie O?
Writers shouldnt be constrained to have to write about only politically correct characters, and be limited to stories where everyone lives happily ever after.
If i recall, Fatal Attraction was a pretty big hit, and that character was obsessive and dysfunctional. Did girls who saw that film become like Glenn Close’ character?
..but the hero was the 'vampire slayer' and the vampire was evil, manipulative (although thinly written as sensuous) and dead/dying/decaying.
Just the little bit I'm reading here, this guy is to be lusted after & desired.
How Christian is this?
It's a morality play...of a different time/era when standards were high and most people who read it, at some level, understood the difference of right/wrong.
How can you compare with sexy vampire making young teens swoon....and young teens having no moral compass to understand the pitfalls.
**********************
Did you see a post I made here that suggested the author of this book should be prevented from writing?
********************
If i recall, Fatal Attraction was a pretty big hit, and that character was obsessive and dysfunctional. Did girls who saw that film become like Glenn Close’ character?
*********************
This book is directed toward teens, not adults. Fatal Attraction is hardly in its league. Beyond that, however, Glenn Close's character was rejected by her married lover and killed at the end of the movie, which might possibly make her an uninspiring role model.
How could anyone allow their kids to see that movie?
The horror. The horror.
I read all of these books. The first three were good books. Not fantastic but good. There are good messages in the book - waiting for marriage to have sex and the anti-abortion message (which is not even a point in the book) but the anti-abortion message is not where the fans are upset.
This last book in the series is one of the worst books I’ve ever read. I’ll admit to not reading many sci-fi books but one thing I know is that when an author creates a world she needs to stay within the parameters of the world she created. The first three books were like cotton candy - fluff - the battle scenes went from PG to R in Dawn with a bloody birthing scene that puts Alien to shame. And then there are all of the printing/spelling mistakes in the book that the editor never caught.
Fans are NOT upset about an anti-abortion theme but are ticked that they forked over $15.00 for a book that never should have been published. And they’re ticked at Meyers for not staying true to her characters.
So dont let your teenage daughter read the book. It isnt like this is required reading in the schools.
I read a lot of Hardy Boys books growing up, but I never thought of them, or other fictional characters in novels as role models, even though those particular brothers were upstanding and interesting.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.