Booklust, Bloodlust and Teen Romance

This year my school began as Sustained Silent Reading program. This "research-based" technique requires all students (and teachers) to spend about thirty minutes every day in silent pleasure-reading. This is not time for studying, emailing, or socializing: just reading.  I was skeptical at first, especially since this schedule change pushed the beginning of the first class from 8:00am to 7:45, but SSR has become my favorite part of the day.

My reading group is a batch of 12 students, a mix of freshmen-juniors, and I really don't know anything about them. After all, there's not a lot of discussion going on during SSR: they arrive, sit, open books, and read. Occasionally, the intercom instructs us to rise for the pledge of allegiance, but that's the extent of our conversation most days. So one morning, in an attempt to foster some reading camaraderie, I offered to let the kids picked out my next book. Naturally, they chose:

I suppose I had it coming to me. But I must own to having a bit of curiosity about the series. So one weekend, I brought the chunky paperback home and dove in.

My expectations were low from the start. A number of students have enthusiastically recounted the origins of the story: Ms. Meyer had a *dream* one night about this blood-sucking family, and wrote the series without doing *any* research on vampire legends. "Isn't that inCREDible, Miss S?"  (This attitude of delighted wonder at "spontaneous composition" probably explains the quality of my students' essays, and their reluctance to edit. Ah, if we all had a muse...)

Even though I didn't go in expecting impressive quality, Ms. Meyer still managed to disappoint on multiple levels. Though she creates effective suspense, the writing lacks subtlety. In fact, Meyers is so loath to imply anything in her prose that she communicates the thoughts of her characters by having them constantly ask one another what each is thinking. (This tedious type of conversation is enabled by the handy plot device of the main vampire having the impressive quality of being able to read most minds---EXCEPT the mind of the girl that he finds most attractive.  Shocking.)

Sadly, the best passages of the book are devoted to mildly pornographic descriptions of vampire physique. In Meyers' world, vampires are especially attractive to their prey, so glowing skin, chiseled musculature, and stunning features are typical of the species. On the plus side, I think Meyers may eventually be responsible for a renewal of the idea that fair skin is attractive.

(Edward, 118 year old vampire and Bella, 17 year old rebel)

What disturbed me most about this book, though, was the assumption that a century old, flesh-eating monster with super-hero-like strength, and model-quality features could be endlessly fascinated with a seventeen year old from Phoenix. First of all, the statutory nature of the relationship raises a few problems. But legality aside, what could a creature with the wisdom and experience of 100 years find interesting about an average high school student? Meyers never clarifies that point. The initial attraction of Edward (Mr. Vampire) to Bella (Boring Teenager) is explained through pure carnality: the "scent" of Bella's blood is especially delicious to Edward.

This bloodlust/romantic curiosity leads him to engage in a variety of stalker-like behaviors, including watching her from the woods surrounding her house, spying on the minds of people she talks to (thanks to his random telepathy), and following her around town as much as he feels like it. My students seem to accept this invasive, aggressive, obsessive behavior as a normal sign of genuine love. Vampires can be scary, I guess, but this blind acceptance is terrifying.

I don't support censorship in any capacity and I do encourage my students to "read promiscuously", as Milton would have them do. But their apparent inability to discern worthwhile fiction from emotionally manipulative escapist literature bothers me deeply.