In her campaign to be the richest woman in America after Oprah, Stephenie Meyer now has a $20, hardcover, multi-volume, graphic novel of her famous book out. The bad news is, it's not an improvement on the actual novel and feels kind of self-indulgent. The good news is, the art is fab and Edward doesn't look or act like RPatt--he looks and acts like Edward. Huzzah!
You probably know the premise of the story by now: shy teen girl falls in love with brooding vamp. Proposed alternate title: Love Among the Tree Monkeys (ha! I kid because I love).
I did like this adaptation better than the movie version, but it stayed very close to the book--too close, actually. It tended to get a little jumpy, and if I hadn't been familiar with the story already, I would have been lost in certain places. But really, is anyone not familiar with the original novel going to pick this up? Not likely.
The art for the most part is gorgeous and makes this book actually kind of a joy to read. The only thing I didn't like is where the artist, Young Kim, mixes photography with drawings--you can kind of see that in the example above, in the hospital corridor. For some reason that made me really nauseous, especially the food in the restaurant scene. Blech.
The best part of the whole book, though, is Young Kim's dedication at the back. Here's my favorite part: "When the story started out, neither Bella nor Edward believed they could find happiness because they were different from others. But now, we are learning to see glimpses that they may indeed be able to find happiness together. To the reader, I sincerely hope that your own unique nature is loved, particularly by yourself." Aw! That gets me all teary-eyed.
Overall I would say the book is not worth the list price, but if you're a Twi-hard you'll want to read it. So get it from the library or buy it used online.
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