Picture this: Its 2008, Twilight is in theaters and I’ve read most of the books cover to cover. I was probably the biggest Twilight fan I knew…. I try to write that with pride.
It’s now 2018 and I find myself once again reading a Twilight book. But this time, it’s a different story.
Twilight Saga author Stephanie Meyer rewrote the original story for the 10th anniversary by gender-swapping the characters. It’s now under the title of “Life and Death.” That’s right, every character, with exception of two, had their gender switched to the opposite. For example, Edward Cullen was now Edythe Cullen. When I heard about the book, my 11-year-old soul needed it.
I am well aware of the issues with Twilight, and I have come to see the shortcomings. I know Edward was a crappy boyfriend, the writing wasn’t all that great, and a host of other issues. But revisiting it as something I loved as a kid is sometimes enjoyable.
This version breathed new life into the story. For starters, the book was more polished, it read better than Meyers’ past books in the series. The language and some of the dialogue was changed to fit the new perspective being shared. In rereading her books, I couldn’t help but notice how ‘cringe-worthy’ the wording was, something I definitely never noticed when first reading the book.
The new perspective was interesting seeing the story from Beau’s, the male version of Bella, point of view. The essence of the original story was there, but I felt like I appreciated it more from his view. I found Bella whiny and one-dimensional and while the one-dimensionality still remained, I feel like the whininess I had an issue with was decreased. Whether this was because he was a guy and “guys aren’t whiny” or maybe it was ironed out in her rewriting the story.
Going into the book, I had questions about its ending and how it would be resolved. By about halfway through, I had sort of guessed the ending, and I saw a quick quip (oops) of the afterword and put it all together. That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the journey, even though I saw the ending coming. I actually found the end way more compelling than the original. The end seemed more realistic… as realistic as a book about vampires can get. It was moving and that really surprised me. It actually made me cry a little.
It seemed that the characters finally found themselves in this version of the book. Twilight seems awkward and forced while this novel seems to flow. If Meyer decided to continue and flip all of her other books around chances are I would read them.
In the end, vampires are still whiny and not good significant others, humans are still annoyingly helpless, and Charlie is still the best character in the book. That being said, would I recommend this? Absolutely, it was nice slipping into the past and enjoying it all again for the first time. It was a fresh look at a familiar story.