Midnight Sun by Stephanie Meyer
It's a love hate relationship... just like the rest of the Twilight saga.
Pros:
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Before we get into this I’d like to acknowledge that I am fully aware of the problematic aspects of this entire thing. From the Mormon fanfic and purity culture to the demonizing of an entire Native American tribe, I see it. If you’d like, you can donate to said tribe here. The Mormons are on their own :P
Of course this was going to be one of my first reviews, I mean come on. Those who know me had to expect this. In 2008, my now husband and I were just a couple of whipper snappers going on a date to see the first Twilight film on the big screen. I hadn’t read the books or anything, it just looked kinda fun so off we went! Afterward, I was changed. I want to affirm that these books and films are hate reads/watches, they couldn’t possibly be anything else. But the enjoyment and comfort I derive from them is also real. Two things can be true at once. I was there for the first wave of Twilight and now, I am here for its renaissance.
Now, this is my first attempt at a book review blog post so be kind and patient with me.
So right off the bat, I was excited (and annoyed at my own excitement) for this book. I preordered it the day it was announced and waited patiently all summer for it to ship, sublimating my excitement by rewatching and rereading the saga from start to finish… multiple times. I was a joy to be around, I’m sure. Speaking of rays of sunshine…
15 years later and I am still beside myself over this emotionally constipated vampire boy.
So you already know this story (if you don’t then where have you been?) but to sum it up for those of you who don’t:
Bella, the main character, starts off living in Phoenix but then decides to move to the tiny, drab town of Forks, Washington to live with her dad Charlie so her mom can travel with her new husband. Once she arrives though, things are weird. On her first day at Forks High she can’t help but notice and blatantly stare at the weird, super pale, incestuous adopted Cullen kids sauntering into the school cafeteria. Come to find out, its a family of vampires and BOOP Bella is in love with Edward, arguably the most stoic of the Cullen clan and the only one not seemingly banging one of his sisters.
Throughout the entire first Twilight book, we follow Bella (and her thoughts) as she falls literally all over herself and “unconditionally and irrevocably in love” with the brooding, chaotic, slightly creepy Edward. This love however, is filled with problems. Of course, what is love without a little traumatizing danger right?
Well, Midnight Sun is basically the exact book except this time, we are following Edward and his thoughts through the same experiences. His thoughts are… a lot. I mean, we knew he was emo but damn. Several people told me it was difficult for them to read because it was just. so. emo. Even Stephanie Meyer herself said that writing this book was harder because of how much of a bummer Edward’s mind is.
For me though, I felt a familiarity in his anxious, pessimistic, overly dramatic perspective. I am used to that kind of brain. Hello!? I live in one. His energy was as I previously said, chaotic and it was exhausting to sludge through all of this with him… but I did it guys. I did it and I’d do it again too because I have an unhealthy attachment to this story.
I think it was smart from a capitalist standpoint to basically rewrite the first book from a new perspective. Half the work, twice the profit. Aside from that, I liked getting the flip side of everything. Things that were unclear or confusing in the first book were answered or touched on in this book. For instance, him talking about how kind Bella was; to her friends, to her family, to people she barely knew, it really helped enlighten me to why he was so transfixed in the first place. I promise, I am not hating on Bella (yes I am) but to be quite honest, I never got her appeal. She’s fine but I never understood the pull she had, aside from her obvious stink. She was a very bland, boring person so how could a worldly, Adonis-like century old vampire become a literal lovesick wreck over this beige teen girl? It helped to hear it from him. I still don’t get it but I can respect it I guess.
Speaking of hating Bella, I reallllllly appreciated reading all the 974 ways he was planning to kill her upon meeting her in Biology class. That was not only super entertaining for me on a spiritual level but it really helped to showcase just how intense his desire for her blood was. In the first Twilight book we just got his weird stares and rude reaction. In the film of course, we had our boy R. Patts glaring uncomfortably for an entire hour long class and then storming out immediately which was just funny. Let’s be honest. With his perspective in this book though, it was quite literally almost a bloodbath in that classroom and man we really missed out on the cut scene of him imagining that in the movie. I’m looking at you, Catherine. A few other key points I wanted to hit on are:
Stephanie Meyer and the Mormon dogma that she modeled this book after are cringe and I will not budge on this, but damn if she didn’t give me a good story to latch onto every time I am in a depressive state. She is a problematic author writing racist, problematic books and that is hard for me to carry around. For more info on her crap, I suggest a google search. And again, donate to the Quileute Tribe.
I love how at first, he was really just planning to kill Bella and then have the whole family relocate. Like, that was literally his plan. He even had the support of some of his family members which I found (no pun intended) delicious.
Speaking of his family, I loved getting a more in depth look at the relationships, stories and interactions between all the Cullens/Hales. I especially loved Edward and Alice’s way of communicating and the close brotherhood that Edward and Emmet shared. It was all very endearing and helped me fall in love with the characters all over again.
Also, and I cannot state this enough, Edward’s unbridled hatred for Mike Newton was SO entertaining.
It was strange to me that Edward couldn’t read Charlie’s mind clearly either which would make Bella’s quiet thoughts a genetic thing? I guess? You have to kind of suspend disbelief already, but like… genetic static brain? It was just kinda weird to me, I don’t know. It made a lot of sense that Renee’s (Bella’s mom) thoughts were loud though. She seems like a very loud person in general. I think my thoughts would be very loud and Edward would stay the hell away from me as a result.
The ending where he lets us know that he plans to leave Bella but then proceeds to spend all summer with her made me very angry and sad. This is huge for me to admit because I don’t care for Bella, but like, it just felt like all of the good times, the memories, the moments spent together from her time in the hospital until he left her crying in the woods in New Moon were all lies. Don’t like. Unfollow. Unsubscribe.
Ultimately, I love the book. I gave it 3 stars only because we are not doing half stars and I plan to be very stingy with my 5 star recommendations. I recognize that this book/story is not for everyone, it’s not an exceptionally written book and that the redundancy of Meyer’s writing can slow the book down a bit, so all in all, 3 stars. Will I read it again? Probably, but for now, it’s on to the next for me!