Writing on Reading: Twilight

She's a hot best selling YA novelist. Her horde of fans eagerly await the next book in her series. Midnight parties are planned at bookstores on the dates of her new releases. Who is this popular author? Stephanie Meyer, of course.

I don't read a lot of YA, but I figured I'd better see what all the fuss was about, so I picked up her first novel, Twilight. The plot of the novel is pretty simple, teen girl falls in love with vampire. As it turns out, its not a fatal combination, since the vampire she falls for happens to be a sort of vegetarian--he doesn't drink human blood, only the blood from wild animals. 

Meyer is certainly a talented writer. She does a great job capturing the voice and angst of a love- struck teenaged protagonist.  She manages to fully explore the nuances of this strange forbidden love and the problems that arise from it. I would certainly recommend this book to any YA girl I know--but nobody else. Twilight is tightly focused on its audience, and, unlike J.K. Rowling's work, is unlikely capture a large adult following. Meyer's protagonist is unique and interesting, but not somone everyone can relate to. Her problems impact her world, not the world as a whole. And there's lots of romance in the book--too much for most speculative fiction readers I know.