The plot
When Bella Swan, a seventeen year old girl, moves to Forks she meets the extremely handsome Edward Cullen. it’s love at first sight. Her new friends tell her the Cullen family, Edward, Alice, Jasper, Emmet and Rosalie, are always together, they don’t have other friends than each other, it’s not that no one likes them, but they are just very on their own. After a little while she finds out that Edward is a vampire, partly because a guy named Jacob Black told her an old legend story, about werewolves and vampires. Bella immediately recognizes Edward in this.

But Edward is not like other vampires, because his family lives from Animal blood instead of Human blood. They become a couple. A strange but sweet couple. This is made clear when Edward says to Bella; '..and the lion fell in love with the lamb.'

A few days later the Cullen family goes out to play a baseball game, Bella comes with them to watch it. Then something unexpected happens.

While they are playing baseball, three other vampires appear, this vampires do drink human blood and they start to hunt for Bella. The Cullen family tries everything to protect Bella. Jasper and Alice even take her to phoenix, which is far away from Forks just to keep her safe while the others try to kill the hunters.

Then Bella gets a phone call from James, one of the hunters, he says that he has abducted her mother and that she is the only one that can save her. The only thing Bella has to do is to go to her old dance studio. When she arrives, James tells her that her mother is save, that he never abducted her at all, and that the voice she heard on the phone was an old family video. James attacks Bella and bites her. Just in time the Cullen family finds her, Edward sucks the poison out of Bella her body and saves her.

The Cullen family kills James en they all go back to Forks. In the end of the book, Edward takes her to prom. Bella says she can’t dance. But Edward learns her, and they have an awesome night.



The book
Twilight is set in a town named Forks, where it rains like 90% of the year. Just in the end, the action takes place in Phoenix, in Bella's old ballet school. These places are very important for the story itself. Firstly, Forks. Vampires are said to burn in the sunlight, well the vampires in Twilight just sparkle. But, no one is allowed to see it, because they have to keep their existence a secret. So Forks is a perfect place for vampires to live, the sun barely shines.

Secondly, Phoenix. This place is especially important to Bella, because she grew up in this place with her mom.

The story takes place in the present, and involves a few months. There are some flashbacks, for example when Bella finds out how Edward was torn into a vampire. Also, flash forwards take place, because one member of the Cullen family can see the future.

The storyteller is “me” and it's written completely from Bella's point of view.

The tone of the book is pretty tragic, depressed and dark. Though, there are some moments of happiness, for example when they first kiss.

The theme pretty much is love. This is a very broad theme, because love knows many sides. In this story, the author mainly shows us the hard times of love, because love between a vampire and a human is pretty impossible after all.

When you read the book, the story is portrayed very realistic, the author really catches you and pulls you into a world where even vampires can exist. That's how realistic it is. Also, since the theme is love, the story is a romantic story. And the vampires being the main characters, automatically makes it a mythological story.



Key Characters
Bella Swan: Actually, Bella is not her real name, her full name is Isabella Swan. Bella is seventeen years old, very clumsy and she lives with her father Charlie in Forks. Bella is a bit weird, she feels most comfortable when she is alone and she's got an eye for strange things. Also Bella seems to have a lack of emotions, she doesn't get mad at anything, she doesn't cry and she rarely smiles.

Several boys are interested in her, but she is drawn to her fellow student Edward, who she immediately falls in love with. Even when she discovers he's a vampire, her love for him doesn't stop. She simply doesn't care. This shows her weirdness again, because every normal girl would be scared to death if she'd find out her boyfriend is a vampire.

Edward Cullen: the first thing you should know about him is that he is a vampire. He was born on June 20, 1901. His adoptive father, Carlisle Cullen, transformed him into a vampire in 1918. He prevented him from dying due to the Spanish influenza epidemic. This vampire turning made him immortal, so actually he is still 17 years old.

He doesn’t harm humans, his family, the Cullens, only hunt for animals and drink their blood. They are kind of vegetarians, in their weird way. Edward Cullen is gorgeous and he's got a special ability to read minds, though he is unable to read Bella’s thoughts. This is why he's so interested in Bella.

Further, Edward likes reading, listening to music and playing the piano.

Their relationship is boy and girlfriend.



Other characters
Charlie & Reneé: are Bellas parents. Her mom lives with her new husband Phil in phoenix, and Bella used to live with them as well. But because of Phil's job as a baseball-player, they travel too much for Bella to stay with them. Bella then moves to live with her dad in Forks. Her dad, Charlie, is a police officer and he's currently trying to find out about the murders taking place in Forks. Their ages are unknown, but since Bella is 17, they are probably somewhere in their 40's.

The Cullen family plays a major role in the story, so they need a little more explanation.

Carlisle: is the head and “father figure” of the family. He is about 350 years old, and originally from London. He is respected amongst the vampire world.

He was the son of a pastor, who was trained by his father to hunt supernatural creatures including vampires. One night he was bitten and left to die. Ashamed, he transformed secretly so that his father would not have to know. From the moment he turned he vowed that he would not kill humans. He’s only bitten his family members to 'save' their lives.

Esme: is Edwards 'mom'. She is married to Carlisle and she is a passionate and loving woman.

Back story: After a failed suicide following the death of her child, Carlisle found Esme and could not resist saving her. Once he turned her they fell in love and got married.

Special ability: Has an enormous passion for love.

Rosalie: is one of the most beautiful vampires. She is married to Emmett and is the only Cullen who dislikes Bella. She envies Bella for being human. Although she is fierce and protective of the Cullen coven, she would rather be human.

Back story: Rosalie was born in a wealthy family. She was engaged to a wealthy young man whom she thought loved her. One night when she was walking home her rich fiancé and his friends raped her and left her for dead. Carlisle found her on the road and turned her into a vampire. She never chose to become a vampire, and has an undead chip on her shoulder as a result. Three days after her transformation, she hunted down her rapists and killed them all, not even to drink their blood, the only humans she’s killed since.

Emmett: is the biggest of the bunch, and the most intimidating. He is married to Rosalie.

Back story: Emmett was hunting in the woods of Tennessee in 1935 when he was badly mauled by a bear. While hunting animals for food, Rosalie found Emmett carried him over 100 miles to Carlisle so that he could transform Emmett. Because Emmett is the newest vamp of the group, he has considerable difficulty controlling his temptations for human blood.

Alice: is the most petite of the family. She is playful and caring, loves to shop and throw parties much to Bella’s dismay. Aside from Edward, Alice has the closest relationship to Bella. Alice uses her ability to see the future and help Bella when she is in danger. The two soon come to love each other like sisters.

Back story: Alice vaguely remembers being human. Her earliest memory is waking up as a vampire. Alice later finds out she was born around 1901 in Biloxi, Mississippi and was committed into an asylum because she had premonitions. Alice was changed by a vampire who worked at the asylum in order to protect her from James, a tracker vampire who was hunting her.

Special ability: Alice can see the future, an enhanced version of her ability to have premonitions as a human. She is only able to see the outcome of a decision once it is made. Due to this, decisions made in the spur of the moment cannot be foreseen.

Jasper: is older than most of the Cullen members, having fought in the US Civil War at the age of 16. He is Alice’s partner and has great fighting skills and strength.

Back story: He was recruited by a vampire called Maria in 1863 to help her train young vampires into a private army to gain territory. As a result of his past and constant fighting, he finds it hard to resist the urge for human blood. Alice met Jasper in a diner in Philadelphia and together they sought out the Cullen family.

Special ability: As a human, he was extremely charismatic and this later enhanced his ability to control the emotions of those around him when he became a vampire.

The author
Stephenie was born in Connecticut in 1973. Her family was settled in Phoenix by the time she was four. The unusual spelling of her name came from her father, Stephen ( + ie).

She went to high school in Scottsdale, Arizona, where she was awarded a National Merit Scholarship, and she used it to pay her way to Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah. She majored in English.

Stephenie met her husband, Pancho, when she was four, but they only saw each other weekly through church activities. When they finally got around to exchanging words, sixteen years after their first meeting, it only took nine months from the first "hello" to the wedding.

They have been married for ten and a half years now, and have three boys. Gabe is eight, Seth is five, and Eli is three.

Twilight is her very first novel. New Moon is the second book in the series, Eclipse the third. The fourth book Breaking Dawn was released in August 2008.

Context & opinion
Twilight means; the end of the day. This is not directly related to the story, but the author probably picked this title because Edwards old life ended and a new one started, together with Bella, so a 'new day' begun. Well, this is my interpretation of the title.

The book pretty much met up to my expectations. Because I'd seen the film, my expectations were pretty high, since the film is really good.

The content of the book is absolutely perfect. It is just what a regular teenage girl wants to read, it's love, it's drama, it's action and it's mystery, all in one book.

Also, I think the language was just right. Though there were some strange words I'd never seen before, it was easy to read, because the story is so catching. At some point I didn't even see them anymore, because I was so focused on the story itself.

This book is definitely one of a kind. Well, this sequel of books are one of a kind. I've never read anything comparable to this, and I think that's exactly why this book is selling so good all over the world. Because it's renewing, it's fresh and it's great entertainment for both adult and teenage people.