Haven't finished reading the book yet, so am going on what I've heard and seen posted about it. Many of my LDS friends are really into this series about teenagers and vampires. Some of them are quite disappointed by the third instalment, others think it's just wonderful. The thing that seems to bother the disappointed ones the most is that the author is also LDS.
I read the review Joni posted (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/books/review/Schillinger7-t.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin) and what I got out of it is that the author really doesn't follow LDS standards when she writes. So are we mad at her for not upholding the standards we know she has, or upset because of what she wrote? I think I'm putting this badly, but do we think that just because a person is LDS that we can expect certain things from them, that if we knew they were not LDS we wouldn't be surprised by? Would my friend have let her daughter read the book if the author had NOT been LDS? Everything else being the same, would it matter if the author was not LDS?
I've come across something like this before. A man I knew in California was a producer of theatrical productions--I was in two of them. But it seemed to me and my brother-in-law that he used his 'LDS-ness' to get ahead in his industry, producing productions that families would want to see, not necesarily for the greater good, but to get gain. Is this what Ms Meyer is doing? Or is she merely being a young adult author, albeit targeting the late-teen crowd? Was she pummelled by her editor into adding things that we consider 'inappropriate', but that the editor would make the book more marketable?
I think we need to not judge people for their religion. You know, expect certain things from an author/performer/artist because he or she is LDS/Catholic/Muslim/Buddhist. Like or dislike the work for what it is. If they hold up their standards respect them for it.
Discuss.
6 comments:
When I started reading these books, I didn't start reading them because of the author, I started reading them because I heard it was a good love story and that I'd fall in love with Edward. I read them to lose myself for hours and be entertained. These books did that for me. Obviously I'm not a teenage girl or the mother of one, so I wasn't reading it from that point of view. But for a 30-something year old "girl" I loved all three books.
Still waiting for my copy of Eclipse to arrive... sigh. But I think I do expect more of Stephenie if book 3 is tawdry, simply because she has been so open about being LDS and has really identified herself that way. She has said she would never write a gratuitous sex scene. Since I don't have a 13-year-old daughter reading these books yet, I probably will have a higher threshold for questionable stuff -- so you'd have to ask me again how I feel about Eclipse and its content when it could be warping someone young and impressionable that I love! (But again, I haven't read the book yet at all, so I really don't know what level of salaciousness it's got.)
I guess my biggest issue, is that is was so much less innocent than the other two. I let Ash read the books because of the first two, not because the author was lds. However, I was more disappointed because she so readily advertises she is lds, and that is what dictates her writing, then she went ahead and wrote things definitely not in accordance with the teachings. She had such a good opportunity to reach girls like my daughter with good messages, and in my opinion, she blew it.
I have readily let Ash read Harry Potter without a pre-reading by her mother. Mostly because I thought I knew the series to be okay and trusted it would not deviate from that path, and by the way was not disappointed. I had the same trust with this series, and was disappointed.
I know I can't shield my daughter from all the evils out there, and to be fair, because of this book, Ash and I talked quite openly about a lot of the issues I did not agree with in the book.
I am sure that my daughter has very much biased my opinion, so I guess you must take what I say with that in mind.
Interesting. I hadn't realized Ms Meyers was playing the "LDS" card.
And it is hard to 'trust' an author and have them turn on you like that. I still think Jann, you should write her and let her know how disappointed you were. If she's going to play the "LDS" card, she needs to be held accountable.
My biggest issue is that she seems to have "sold out" in the whole scene. This book was a let-down to me in lots of ways, mostly the writing. It seemed she knew she could sell anything, and she set out to prove it. I think she may have been trying to teach her conservative principles through the books, but she makes sure she has a pretty morally immature main character who should be learning better by now. I don't know. I never thought the books were literature or anything, but she seems to have copped out.
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