twilight

At dinner tonight I was made aware of a new teen hearthrob who exists between the pages of a novel, in the minds and hearts of young girls and soon to be eliciting flutters from the silver screen.

The subject of a not insignificant amount of screaching and swooning is a character named Edward Cullen.  Entertainment Weekly states,  "Pretty but awkward 17-year-old Bella (Kristen Stewart) moves to a small town in the Pacific Northwest and falls in love with Edward (Robert Pattinson), a heartbreakingly beautiful vampire. Edward also falls for Bella, but his desire for her barely controls his instinct to devour her. It's this combination of passion and danger, of course, that surrounds this teen romance with a halo of epic, doomed love. "   "As for the character of Edward, Meyer describes him as ''devastatingly inhumanly beautiful.'' Not surprisingly, he has become a heartthrob to millions." 

 

Judging from my daughter's reaction to the mere mention of his name and the fact that this new "hero" is a vampire prompted me to make the decision to read one of the three novels and to toss out this "heads up".  I generally try to contain myself and not scream "fire" without first investigating the source of the smoke, but I am aware that there is a genre of teen literature out there that, much like the adult romance novels that cater to wistfull women, borders on pornography and most definitely bends and shapes impressionable minds.

My daughter tells me that the local library stocks this book, so I'll head over tomorrow and see if I can get a copy in my hands for evaluation.  In the meantime, you might want to check your teen's bookshelves at home.

Stephanie Meyer, the author of this (currently three part) saga, moving into the adult stream with her recent  novel "Host", is apparently going to make her mark in the world, like Rowling and Rice, sensationalizing the darker recesses of the human mind and the lustful aspects of the supernatural realm.

I'll keep you posted.

 Other reviews:

Teen Lit Review, The Christian Manifesto, Entertainment Weekly, Amazon.com