By Alicia Holland
The glare of the fluorescent lights reflected upon the automatic sliding doors of Border’s bookstore. The persistent tapping of footsteps reverberated off the outside pavement and filled the entranceway with a song of the comings and goings of customers. The shelves of the main display section were packed with bestselling books just waiting to be snatched up by a passionate reader. Among these many bestsellers were a grouping of books that can be found displayed in any store that carries books.
Kate Dlugosinski curiously gazed at the staggering centerpiece display of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga that was packed with a variety of merchandise. The display flaunted t-shirts, key-chains, bookmarks, stickers and so much more. The four novels Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn all have a midnight black cover, each centered with their unique cover image that sparks the imagination to new heights and stirs the curiosity of even the most disinterested of consumers. An apple, a bloody flower, a frayed piece of ribbon, and a white chess piece are the book covers that have captivated so many readers. The thick pages of each book provide a window into the intoxicating world of an epic, supernatural love story. The series follows the forbidden relationship between Bella, a human starting at a new high school and Edward, a fellow student and mysterious vampire who becomes a huge part of her life. Their worlds collide and a chain of events are set into motion due to their unusual and intimate relationship.
The series is technically categorized as fiction for young adults, according to Borders.com, but the books definitely have had a mass appeal that stretches way beyond the intended designated age group of around 14-17 year olds. Adults that stretch beyond the twenty-something mark also find the vampire series very intriguing and enjoy engaging in the whirlwind phenomenon.
Sam, a Borders employee and fellow Twilight fan who requested that her last name not be revealed, said that she has seen girls eight to fifty-five years old come in to buy the first book and then come back the following day for the next book. “The series is unbelievable…you wouldn’t think you would love the series, but you do. It’s addictive!” she said.
Twilight, which was originally published in 2005, has become an unexpected, overnight success more recently with the anticipation of the film adaptation of the phenomenal novel. According to Publishers Weekly, in the United States the first three novels brought in sales of 8.5 million copies and the last novel sold 1.3 million copies on the very first day that the novel was released this past August, which was record-breaking for Hachette Book Group USA.
College student Nicole Mitchell became instantly obsessed with all of the Twilight novels and was completely mesmerized by the unique “vampire narrative.” Nicole, who was completely unfamiliar with the Twilight novels, was introduced to the series when her mother borrowed the first three books from a friend. Nicole’s mom became obsessed with the books, read them non-stop and teetered between being impatient and overly anxious as she waited for Breaking Dawn to be released. She enjoyed the series because she can personally relate to the characters and their struggles in various ways, as do many other readers. The experience of first love is definitely an identifying element for readers and the experience of dwelling upon monumental decisions that can trigger a whirlwind of changes or can create no changes at all is relatable.
Since her mother was making such a “fuss” and there had been so much hype, Nicole decided to give the series a chance. Like her mother, Nicole became absolutely fascinated with the vampire love story. “I was certainly captivated by the time I finished reading the book jacket,” stated Nicole in an email. During her summer job, Nicole had trouble in trying to pry the books away from her fingers during her break time because the story made her so oblivious to aspects like the time. At her home, Nicole would very forget to pay enough attention to some of the people around her and if she should be making dinner because she was so lost in the story. Sometimes Nicole’s two year old son would literally shut her book while she was reading when he and his father desperately wanted to yank her head out of the book so she would return to reality. A point even came when the men of the house needed to physically throw objects at Nicole in attempts to snatch her complete and undivided attention away from Bella’s story. Crumpled wads of paper, small toys, soda cans, and Thomas the train were sacrificed for the cause of excessively diverting Nicole from her beloved books.
Nicole admits that she would still read the series even if she was much older because the story is still easy to understand and is enjoyable. If she was younger she also would still read the books since they are targeted for the younger age groups, but smight not fully comprehend the story as much as she normally would as a slightly older and more experienced reader.
In contrast, another successful vampire book series is Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire Series which is frequently pegged as more of an “adult-version of Twilight,” so both series are in direct competition with each other. The series follows the exploits of telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse as she lives in a world in which vampires live among humans. Vampires have gone public about their existence due the invention of synthetic blood, so vampires have become like a new species. The focal point of the show revolves around Sookie’s romantic relationship with a vampire named Bill and how she uses her special abilities to help other people. Krista Fleming, a Bank of America employee, prefers Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire Series over Twilight, but is a fan of both series. It took some time for her to get into the Twilight series at first, but she did become very interested after all. She really liked how the supporting characters in the Twilight books helped to bring humor and entertainment to the stories just as much as the main characters. The books have recently been adapted into the HBO series True Blood, which has sucked in many fans besides the devoted readers.
Peter Sendrowski, a father of a college student who is swept up in the Twilight phenomenon, has recently become a fan of the series himself at the encouragement of his daughter Liza Sendrowski. Being a longtime avid reader and fan of sci-fi, fantasy, horror and romance stories Peter was increasingly drawn to the vampire series and instantly fell in love with them once he began the first book. He read them in a very short amount of time, even with his very busy schedule of working practically the entire day. He was so captivated with the series that he definitely reorganized his time so he could read. “I did so much reading, two books in one week that I had problems staying awake at work,” he stated in a questionnaire. His daughter Liza was extremely surprised that he sped through all four books and how he became so astoundingly excited about the upcoming film release of the first book, which has every girl fourteen years old and up in a sublimely euphoric state of being.
The November 21st release of the much anticipated film adaptation of Twilight has achieved a great deal of success in its opening weekend. Entertainment Weekly.com reported that the film topped the box office by bringing in $70.6 million. These successful figures allow the film to be categorized as “the fourth biggest premiere of the year” so far. There has been a great swell of both positive and negative fan feedback, but mostly positive input has prevailed. Young high school girls frantically frolicked through the theaters this weekend, wearing their Twilight T-shirts and hugging their paperbacks.
“You feel like you are in another world reading the books and you do not want to come back to reality,” Liza Sendrowski said in an email. Liza was in her own little Twilight heaven at the end of the summer right before the beginning of school because she was devoting all of her time to finally reading the series, and of course an incredible obsession was instantly sparked as a result. Liza really likes how the first novel begins like a typical story about the everyday life of a girl adjusting to her new circumstances in life and how the story transcends into a much more complicated and supernatural love story. She would read the novels at any time of the day that she could get her hands on the covers because she just had to find out what would happen next and if that would be something good or bad.
As a great fan herself, Kate Dlugosinski has been lost in the “twilight zone” ever since she picked up the first book. The character of Edward is the spark that fuels her obsession because he represents the perfect vision and qualities of every girl’s ideal boyfriend. One moment in the first novel that she loves is when Edward walks Bella to her next class, which was gym. They walk together down the hallway in silence and Bella has something to say when they reach the entrance to the gym. However, any inkling of thought leaves her once she is face to face with him and she becomes completely unaware of what she was previously pondering. Her bones and mind turn even more into Jell-O when Edward strokes her cheek with his fingers and finally walks away. “Twilight is my brand of heroin,” Kate ironically said in an email. Her well chosen words are very clever and ironic because the heroin comparison is exactly what Edward says to Bella in the book when he is explaining to Bella just how dangerously tempting her unique and intoxicating scent is to him and how that temptation puts her in danger. This addiction of Kate’s caused her to uncontrollably reflect the negative or positive emotions of the main character of Bella as Kate progressed through the books. Kate would feel happy when Bella was happy and feel depressed when Bella was depressed. Kate would sit night after night in her dorm room, clutching her Twilight paperback and waiting for the next suspenseful scene to come alive. Occasionally she would exclaim a thunderous roar of laughter over a snarky and sarcastic remark in the dialogue or would unleash a gasp of surprise in response to a shocking action scene.
On a different note, Brittany, a student at Emerson who requested for her last name not to be mentioned, read the first book but could not get into the series although she can see why younger readers go crazy over the books. She liked the beginning for the most part, but just wasn’t sucked into the vampire love story like many others. Brittany became very consciously aware of the skyrocketing phenomenon of Twilight when she was in the book section of Stop and Shop. She noticed how a great number of the books on display were the books of the series, so they obviously stood out more than the other books propped up in the area. It was a bit strange how the simple book area of a grocery story was providing a lot of space to house a random young adult series like Twilight. Even though the books are definitely appealing to girls, she heard some of her co-workers once discussing their personal interest in the series which was a huge and rather amusing surprise to Brittany.
Now back from Borders, Kate is in possession of a number of Twilight products that range from a T-shirt and the movie soundtrack to a Twilight pen and an Edward tote bag. Kate did not want to pass up a chance to get merchandise that would otherwise be violently gobbled by other hungry fans. She has seen the film twice and is thoroughly looking forward to many more showings in the future. Her and a friend have been rereading the books and probably will continue to reread them in the future.
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English 280: The Journalistic Essay 