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Aug 7, '08 6:53 AM
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Category:	Books
Genre:	Literature & Fiction
Author:	Stephenie Meyer

Breaking Dawn Review: Breaking Dawn Broke My Heart

[SPOILERS Ahead!] It is extremely obvious from my Multiply site that I am a huge Twilight Saga fan. I would have to say, though, that the final installment in Stephenie Meyer’s vampire saga disappointed me very very much. I feel that she wasted a great opportunity to crystallize the recurring themes of her series. I know some fans may disagree with me but I also know that many agree as evidenced by the Return Breaking Dawn movement and other bad reviews of Breaking Dawn. Let me list down my points of contention with Breaking Dawn in this Breaking Dawn review.

What is Meyer telling me?

In the first three books of the Twilight Saga, Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse, Meyer’s recurring themes were love, sacrifice and choice along with their consequences. I was expecting that these themes will be crystallized in the last book. Breaking Dawn felt like a betrayal of her established themes. Bella’s choice to become a vampire did not have the natural consequence of her estrangement from her father and her mother just disappeared from the scene. I am a parent and I do not think a father will react the way Charlie did. Her choice to marry Edward and hurt Jacob was simply resolved when Jacob imprinted on her child (a half-human, half-vampire). What is Meyer telling me? Let me see…

(1) Marry even if you are young and immature
(2) Becoming pregnant automatically makes a woman mature
(3) No need to go to College. You just need to marry a rich man
(4) You can have your cake (Edward) and eat it too (Jacob)
(5) There are no consequences for a proven evil intent (Volturi walking away unscathed after Garrett’s speech)
(6) When you admit a unintended mistake, you die and there's no justice for your death (Irina)

Sorry for the comparison but I can't help it. J.K. Rowling’s final Harry Potter installment successfully established her themes of love and good versus evil. I learned something from Harry but I will not recommend Breaking Dawn to my daughter (She’s 1 so she can’t read yet…).

What Happened To The Characters?

Many of the characters in Breaking Dawn did not behave the way they were expected to behave given the character development from the first 3 books. Edward was half the man he was. Come on, he didn't even contribute to naming his daughter! That’s not the Edward I know. Jacob, a strong alpha male, suddenly turned wimpy after he imprinted. Bella rapidly developed maternal instincts when she was so hostile to the idea of marriage and these are just the 3 major characters! I wanted to cry for these beautiful characters…

Why Introduce So Many New Characters with Breaking Dawn almost concluded?

Is it in order to sell copies of the Twilight companion book in December? I won’t be surprised if the companion book contains back stories of these new vampire characters. I felt like Breaking Dawn was trying to become Harry Potter in its last book. Harry Potter had a slew of incredible wizard characters but they were slowly established by Rowling throughout the series.

What is Up With The Different Points of View?

Majority of the first 3 books were written in Bella’s perspective. It was only in Eclipse where Jacob’s POV was used. I have nothing against different POVs but for an author to deliberately break her own writing structure is a bit off. If Meyer were to break her own structure, why not write Breaking Dawn’s Book 3 in Edward’s perspective? It would have been more entertaining to read about Bella’s first days as a vampire from Edward’s POV. Also, wouldn’t it be better to read about Bella’s preparation for Jacob to take care of Renesmee (Ough! The name!) in case of her and Edward’s death from Edward’s unsuspecting eyes? At least, I would have had a good twist.

A lot of the things that made me love the Twilight Saga were destroyed by my experience of reading Breaking Dawn. I am now on a quest to cleanse my brain so I can forget about Breaking Dawn. This may take some time but I will try. To me, the Twilight Saga ended with Eclipse.

Tags: breaking dawn review

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24 CommentsChronological Reverse Threaded

joniang wrote on Aug 7, '08

Hi Cathy! Got here from Gann's plurk. Ganito din opinion ko sa Breaking Dawn. It's like you're reading my mind! Haha. They should've ended the series in Eclipse. Tsk!

valkyrieangie wrote on Aug 7, '08

still reading pa, pero mehn... can't get over the renesmee thing. like i said, siguro pangalan ng tatay niya stephen tapos nanay niya melanie. and in tribute... renesmee. ugh, haha.

macaronigirl wrote on Aug 7, '08

brilliant cathy!!! :)

cathsdeen wrote on Aug 7, '08, edited on Aug 7, '08

valkyrieangie, I do think Stephenie was a combination of her Dad and Mom's names.

BTW, I just read from TwilightLexicon that SM actually fought with the publishes about Renesmee. Little Brown actually advised her to end it at Eclipse. She should have listened to them and kept the series in the YA category.

cafevida wrote on Aug 7, '08

Great work with the review. I'm starting on the 2nd book this weekend. Maybe Breaking Dawn turned out the way it did because the author got caught up in the fandom. One thing I like about JK Rowling, she was true to the story and to her characters.

cathsdeen wrote on Aug 8, '08

cafevida, i hope my spoilers were ok since you have not finished it yet...maybe you should set the book aside now and go read great twilight fanfic at http://www.twilighted.net. :)

hjklovee wrote on Aug 11, '08, edited on Aug 11, '08

I completely agree. I would have expected some twist to Breaking Dawn, but turns out she did exactly what the post-eclipse fanfictions did (the half-vampire and the Jacob imprinting); only hers is more detailed. And not only that, I'm also surprised that it's considered to be in the YA category. True, they are in that age group, but they sure don't act like it anymore.

cathsdeen wrote on Aug 12, '08

I agree too. Actually, there's a funny exchange between two fanfic writers from Twilighted.net who wrote a crackfic which had elements of BD. Read the fun and sarcasm!

hjklovee wrote on Aug 13, '08

Hilarious! Breaking Dawn did outcrack Pregnant Vampire Bella Joins the Army. Thanks for the link.

eiufamr wrote on Aug 16, '08

i guess i'm out of the norm. i LOVED it!

cathsdeen wrote on Aug 17, '08

@eiufamr, I think you're not out of the norm. I believe Stephenie's fandom was divided in terms of their opinion of Breaking Dawn. Some totally hated it (like me) and some loved it. I think the majority were in the fence, though. Average rating in Amazon was lower than ratings for the first 3 books. Reviews from critics were also mixed. Everyone's free to have their own opinion. I posted my review so I can share how I felt. I needed to vent...:)

gannsdeen wrote on Aug 17, '08

What I'd like to know what what eiufamr enjoyed about it. I think it should be titled "Breaking Down."

ginggay02 wrote on Oct 27, '08

'i aLso Love the twiLight series. .Ü

perdiberdi wrote on Nov 3, '08

earth to me. but i also do love the book. though not as much as the others =)

snowenorr wrote on Dec 3, '08

I am still recuperating from my trauma upon reading this book. I wish I hadn't read it really. I should have stopped it on Eclipse. She ruined everything we loved about the cullens and the Twilight universe.

Why did Meyer have to massacre Edward and Bella in front of us...

Like i said... I wish Meyer re-write this and make breaking dawn the nightmare for bella and all of us!

fagundes81 wrote on Mar 19, '09

I was pretty upset finding out Bella and Edward got married and bam she's having his baby. I pretty much could not pick up the book after that. Then when I did she became a vampire in a way I thought was pretty stupid. I was hoping it would have been more romantic not of crap my kid is killing you here is venom in your heart. LAME LAME LAME. I was real disappointed!

cathsdeen wrote on Mar 22, '09

snowenorr said

I loved the way you wrote your comment. Indeed, Steph massacred her beautiful characters...what a waste...what a waste.

xobrittneyxo wrote on May 15, '09

huh....i totally love Breaking Dawn....i wonder my everyone's making a big deal out of it....it's so good!

xobrittneyxo wrote on May 15, '09, edited on May 15, '09

i somehow agree with you though...........i think it would be better if she do a remake of the book...=).....but i think it's good.....it's just a shame that one of the books in the twilight series didn't make the bestsellers list.....so i say that she edit the book again

Comment deleted at the request of the thread owner.

kfrenchy wrote on Apr 25, '10

Hello all. I'm getting into the Twilight series later than most. After making fun of my students and friends I finally decided to start to read and liked, no loved them. Well, almost all of them. I do agree with the majority of comments regarding "Breaking Dawn" and its almost total disconnect from the other 3 installments. I fell in love with the characters, especially Edward and then they all seem to lose their central voice in BD. It felt totally rushed, which is the on;y thing that makes sense to me. I had no problem w/the marriage, baby, Bella becoming a vampire or the imprinting. Most of these themes you could see from prior installments, were being led in this direction. It's just, what happened to them, their voice? Edward becomes ornamental, Jacob, a fragment of who he was. Embry's father issues could have been discussed...ooohh more drama in the wolf pack! The Volturi had no accountability and that's okay? The new characters introduced, then they're gone, then happily ever after?! WTF?!?! I agree w/Cath Deen about the Edward POV being an interesting read and the only hope to right BD's wrong is hopefully "Midnight Sun" will be completed and published. I read the 12 chapters and it made me a believer again.

apoorva0303 wrote on Jul 12, '10

i hated how she ruined jacob's character :( ...jacob was so against imprinting and vampires for crying out loud! but then BAM he imprinted on renesmee ...i mean wtf??he turned into their slave....
the only character which had depth throughout the story was jacob but she went and ruined his character... i am going to pretend that breaking dawn's last part never happened...
team jacob forever!

apoorva0303 wrote on Jul 12, '10

i was totally disappointed with breaking dawn... why did you jacob's life??? i was so frustrated that i actually threw the book across the room!! jacob was the only character who had depth and a personality throught out the series and she went and ruined it :(.i am going to pretend breaking dawn's last part never happened...
team jacob for life!!!

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