No. 94: Breaking Dawn

Oh Stephanie Meyer, I don't even know what to say. This book was CRAZY! I couldn't believe what was happening - stuff I never even contemplated. I don't even know if I can find words to express how I feel about it. It was insane.

I have read some reviews and it seems like lots of people really really hate the book. They think that the FMC is a bad example for teenage girls (I won't say why because I don't want to spoil it for anyone). Personally, I think a lot of those people are taking things to seriously. I mean, it is a book. About vampires. I hardly think the people who read it are taking it as an example of how to live their life. Anyway, I didn't think that anything she did was super unusual or bad. In fact, some of the things she did were a good example. I agree that there were some plot points that were pretty insane. But it is a fantasy book, things are allowed to be insane - that is the point! The author invented the "world" she can make anything happen that she wants. I think people need to relax.

There were some things I did not like about the book. I really didn't like that a third of the book was from Jacob's POV. I find him very irritating and his relationship with Bella irritating. I also thought Edward seemed different in this book in parts, and that there was not as much of a focus on him. Which is really too bad.

I liked a lot of the book though too. It has a lot of super funny lines. I can't tell you how many times I cracked up or blushed or talked out loud ( for example - "aaaaacccckkkkkkk") One line that particularly sticks out is from Emmett: "Do you know how many houses Rosie and I smashed" or something like that. Hysterical! I liked the final conflict, although it wasn't quite as dramatic as it could have been. I liked the way the love scenes were handled, I thought it was appropriate for a young adult novel. But, there was a much much bigger focus on sex, which is interesting. I think if my daughters ever wanted to read the series it would trigger some probably embarassing discussions, but luckily I don't have to worry about that for quite a few years :) But compared to some of the other books I read, it was very tame. I was glad that Bella seemed to come into her own more - she wasn't nearly as irritating!

I am going to have to re-read the book though. I don't know if I read a single page in the first 3/4 of the book without one or two girls crawling on me, or crying or wanting to eat or play or not take a nap when they should or walk around the living room for an hour bouncing up and down. So my concentration was not what it could be :) Although to be honest, once Aaron got home I read the last 100 pages or so ALONE in bed where it was QUIET. Which was great.

So, I guess I liked it. It was a very good read, I read it as fast as I could (with all the distractions) and even though there were parts I didn't particularly like or found irritating. I thought it was a good book and an interesting way to end the series.