“Try not to get caught up in outdated gender roles.” (Edith says these words to Beaufort when he intended to pay for dinner at the restaurant himself.)
I’m a fan of Stephenie Meyer, although it’s customary to throw slippers at people for making such statements. But I can't deny that The Twilight Saga really touched me on an emotional level back in the day. Yes, yes, this is a tearful creation of a housewife with a bad AST translation. Moreover, of all the Twilight novels, I liked “Midnight Sun” the most - “Twilight” from Edward’s point of view.
Then the newly minted star of romantic mysticism released the good “Guest” and voiced her extensive creative plans. These plans happily stalled, but finally, several years later, the literary mother of vegetarian vampires released the long-awaited book. Either Stephanie’s muse has left her completely, or she’s so attached to her first novel that she can’t leave it alone, but the new novel is also “Twilight.” In it, the writer made a truly brilliant move from a marketing point of view - she left everything as it was, only changed the gender of all the characters. The handsome vampire Edward became the beautiful vampire Edith, and the clumsy Bella became the clumsy Beaufort (Bo). Stephanie made a prudent exception only for Beau's parents, leaving the serious dad Charles and the flighty mother unchanged on the basis that in a divorce it is unlikely that a child would be left with an irresponsible father when he has a serious mother with a stable job.
Sadly (but not at all surprising), autocorrect did not create a new masterpiece. The old version had an inferiority-complexed girl, Bella, who was charming in her weakness, and a charismatic vampire, possessed by fits of rage and with the manners of a true gentleman. In general, the dream come true of any simple girl eager to meet a handsome prince.
In the new one, they were replaced by the wimpy boy Bo, who faints at the sight of blood from a punctured finger, and the beauty, possessed by fits of rage and capable of stopping a van with one hand. I don’t know if insecure teenage boys dream of meeting a supergirl who can carry them in her arms and stop vans as they go... But I suspect that they don’t read such books at all.
As a result of gender reshuffling, something completely incomprehensible came out. The original novel was the story of Little Red Riding Hood - naive, fearless and head over heels in love with a predator; and the Gray Wolf, who is torn between love and the desire to kill the object of his love. And the author managed to make a story of sincere love out of this. In the changeling, we literally got a female vamp and a young human misunderstanding of the male gender. It’s hard to believe in sincere love between them, and the author did not take the path of parodic trash - Mrs. Mayer is deadly serious and completely devoid of self-irony.
There are also significant differences between Twilight 1.0 and Twilight 3.0. (Twilight 2.0 is the unfinished Midnight Sun). This is an alternate ending. In the new version, the story ends completely; new moons, sunsets and sunrises are not provided. Some scenes for the finale are taken from Breaking Dawn.
Spoiler (plot reveal) (click on it to see)
Newborn vampire Bo celebrates a happy ending with his beloved vampire, and the werewolves were convinced that the Kalens are not dangerous. There is no provision for a hybrid child here.
I wonder what will happen in the next Twilight 4.0 reboot? I can give you an idea. In a provincial vampire town, the vampire Bella comes to a vampire school and meets the mysterious Kalens, who only pretend to be vampires, but in fact wear red lenses on purpose; they are people endowed with superpowers who destroy vampires. And the vampire-hating man Edward falls in love with the clumsy vampire Bella... Oh, Ostap got carried away, stop!
P.S The next reboot of “Twilight” is “The Chemist”! There, vampires and werewolves were replaced by super agents))))
Rating: 1
When all the evil vampires are defeated, the werewolves are tamed, the sweet young vampires are “taken into their hands” and ringed... Where should the author’s imagination be directed... Maybe... No, it has already happened. Or maybe... No, in the fifth volume of SAGA this is chewed up and chewed on. Fresh idea! Make a vampire girl. And let this time the innocent young man with a burning gaze “take her into his hands” and ring her! Great idea. Tell the same thing, but in reverse! This is a treasure trove of ideas! A gay lesbian couple, a multiracial couple, a disabled couple and a lover of shades of gray, what a couple! Menage de trois, de tetrois and so on. SAGA is growing and developing, which is good news.
Rating: no
Who can even read this? When I saw it in a bookstore at a Moscow train station, I first decided that it was some kind of joke, a stupid fan fiction. But no - it’s all for real. Of course, I haven’t read the book and won’t, but I leafed through it. My impression is this. The writer changed the genders of the characters, but did not change the gender roles. And this is where all the problems of this opus come from. The main character remains Bella, just for some reason in the guise of a guy. Now, if Beaufort were a strong jock, captain of a football team, winner of all sorts of scientific Olympiads, then his meeting with a girl superior to him in everything could be of interest (well, you know, there is always someone better than you, I’m a candidate of sciences, and there are girls who are doctors, or I can bench press 100 kg, and there is a girl who can bench press 110, I can run the 100-meter dash in 13 seconds, and the girl can bench press 11, etc.). It would be interesting to look at the adventures of such a couple, in which the friend is invulnerable and immortal and is forced to constantly fear for the health and life of her lover, who strives not to give in to anything (because he is a man and cannot keep up with the girl), but is neither invulnerable nor immortal. The writer did not follow this path, because she was either too lazy to invent something new, or was no longer able to do so. And it turned out to be a story about a courageous girl and a feminine, worthless guy... And also (I add periodically) the original “Twilight” fell well into the target audience (ordinary girls dreaming of a prince from a fairy tale). And many guys were interested in reading what girls who dream of a prince think about. And trying on the role of a prince was also somewhat interesting. That is, the accents were placed correctly: the girl is weak, the man is the protector. That's why girls like Edward. Yes, damn it, even in, excuse me, “50 Shades” it was about the same! There Christian is an example of every woman’s dream. Who is this book “Rethinking” intended for? For guys who dream of meeting their vampire princess? Or maybe girls who want to know how these nobodies who dream of princesses think? Who might like Beaufort Swan?
Rating: no
This is tough. Fanfiction based on your own text. The second remake of the original story after the unfinished Midnight Sun. Here the characters' names and genders were changed, and the text was slightly edited! Voila. So I can't judge him through the prism of the first volume of Twilight.
For me he is the first. I speak of him as the first. For me (except for the movie). And judging from this side, I don’t think he’s that bad. There are silly, funny and downright stupid moments.
But in the first half of the novel, right up to the baseball game, it’s not bad on the whole.
Well, except for the moment of riding on your back. This is hilarious and cannot be read with a smart face)))
Then, of course, obvious nonsense began: I especially didn’t like it (it seems to me that this is a drawback of all works where someone tries to elude the prophet or soothsayer. In my purely subjective opinion, this is IMPOSSIBLE. And any tricks, again, in my opinion, do not work and are doomed to failure. But this is, as they say, IMHO.) an attempt to escape from Archie. She's so... ridiculous. And in general, then it was pure absurdity (I repeat) or what do you think: talking about marriage when in front of you is a grief-stricken father, whose life you destroyed completely and irrevocably? No, of course, everything human seems alien to a vampire.
Then I didn’t like (of all the gender changes of the characters) the story of Dr. Cullen’s husband. She is not suitable for a man. You see, he threw himself off a cliff because of his daughter. I DO NOT BELIEVE!
If we talk about the novel only as a love story, then in general it’s not bad. Not really bad. At least until the baseball game)))
Oh. That's what I printed)))
Stephenie Meyer, in honor of the anniversary of the first Twilight, decided to release another book from this series. The plot is similar to Twilight, but with almost all the female characters replaced by male ones and vice versa.
Stephenie Meyer
Life and death
The translation was prepared by a team of translators from the website www.twilightrussia.ru
The text is provided for informational purposes and is not intended for commercial gain.
Preface
To all my wonderful friends and readers:
Happy tenth anniversary! It's hard to believe that so much time has passed since this all started. And yet, my kids have grown into huge teenagers, so I can't escape the truth.
Thank you for a ten-year adventure that exceeded my wildest dreams. I'm a very realistic person, but my experiences with readers have made me believe - well, just a little - in magic.
To celebrate this milestone in the journey, I've written a new bonus feature designed to bring you some Twilight fun. (In typical Stephenie Meyer fashion, the bonus material is actually longer than Twilight.) You can re-read Twilight or start reading Life and Death. I really enjoyed being back in Forks again, and I hope you have as much experience and enjoyment as I did.
You are fantastic and I love you.
To my boys - Gabe, Seth and Eli - for letting me feel what it's like to be a teenage boy. I could not have written this book without you.
PREFACE
Hello dear reader!
Happy Anniversary again and welcome to the new 10th Anniversary Bonus Feature!
First and foremost:
EXCUSE ME.
I know there's going to be a lot of sobbing and gnashing of teeth about this material because it's: a) largely, but not entirely, new; b) not "Midnight Sun". (If you think that I do not fully feel your pain, then rest assured, my mother conveyed this to me more than clearly.) I will explain how everything happened, and I hope that a lot of things will become, if not better, then at least clearer .
Just recently my agent contacted me and asked if I had anything in mind to do for the tenth anniversary of Twilight? The publisher was counting on a parting word like an “anniversary letter.” It seemed to me... well, to be honest, very boring. What could be said that is so fun and exciting? Nothing. So I thought about what else I could do, and if it makes you feel any better, Midnight Sun immediately came to mind. The problem was time - as usual, there was none at all. Certainly not enough to write a novel or even half of it.
Reflecting on Twilight after a long hiatus and discussing anniversary issues with friends, I thought back to what I had said before at book signings and interviews. You know, Bella was often criticized for constantly having to be rescued from numerous scrapes, and people complained that she was a typical "damsel in distress." To this I always answered that Bella is a person in trouble, a normal person, surrounded on all sides by superheroes and supervillains. She was also criticized for being too preoccupied with her love, as if this quality was unique to girls. But I always insisted that it makes no difference whether the guy is a human and the girl is a vampire, it will be exactly the same story. Regardless of gender or biology, Twilight has always been a story about magic, obsession and the fury of first love.
So I had an idea: what if I experimented with this theory? Should be funny. As usual, I decided that this would be one or two chapters. (It’s both fun and sad, but it seems I still don’t know myself very well.) Remember what I said about the lack of time? Luckily, this project was not only fun, but also easy and quick. In the end, it turned out that the difference between a girl in love with a vampire and a guy in love with a vampire is small. This is how Bo and Edith were born.
A couple of notes about the changes:
1. I have changed the gender of all Twilight characters, but there are two exceptions.
The biggest exception is Charlie and Renee, who remain Charlie and Renee. There is an explanation for this: Bo was born in 1987. In those days, fathers rarely received primary custody, especially if the child was young. Most likely, the mother should have been declared incapable of fulfilling maternal responsibilities for some reason. And I really find it hard to believe that any judge back then (or even now) would give a child to an impulsive, unemployed father over a mother with a stable job and strong ties to the community. Of course, if Charlie were fighting for Bella now, he would probably be able to take her away from Renee. Thus, Twilight plays out the least likely scenario. Only the fact that several decades ago maternal rights were considered more important than paternal ones, and the fact that Charlie lacks a grudge, allowed Renee to raise Bella - and, as in our case, now Beau.
The second exception is very small - only a few background characters, mentioned only twice. The reason for this is my misplaced sense of justice towards fictional people. There were two truly recurring characters in the expanded Twilight universe. And instead of replacing them, I gave them freedom. This doesn't change anything in the plot. Consider this just my weirdness and indulgence in my neurosis.
2. Much more of the changes in this bonus were due to Bo's human status, so I decided to group them for you. Of course, these are rough estimates. I did not count all the changed words, nor did I perform any other mathematical operations.
5% of the changes are due to the fact that Beau is a guy.
5% of the changes are due to Bo's personality developing slightly differently than Bella's. The biggest difference is that he suffers more from obsessive-compulsive disorder, his thoughts and words are not as flowery, and he is not as angry - he completely lacks the burden of flaws that Bella carried on her shoulders all the time.
70% of the changes saw the light of day because I got the opportunity to edit the text ten years later. I corrected almost every word that had bothered me since the book went to print, and it was great.
10% is something I regret not doing initially, but which I didn’t think about before. It may seem that this point is equivalent to the previous one, but still it is slightly different. We are not talking about words that sounded awkward and clumsy, but about ideas that, to my regret, were not born earlier, or about dialogues that should have taken place, but never took place.
5% relates to questions - or rather, errors - of mythology, usually regarding visions. As I continued to work on the Twilight sequels - and even on Midnight Sun, where I got to look inside Alice's head with Edward's help - the way Alice's visions worked was refined. In Twilight they're more mystical, and looking back now I can see situations where she should have been involved but wasn't. Oops!
The remaining 5% refers to changes made for a variety of undoubtedly selfish reasons.
I hope you find Bo and Edith's story funny, too, even if it's not what you expected. I really had a great time creating the new version. I suddenly fell passionately in love with Bo and Edith, and their story made the fantasy world of Forks feel fresh and happy again for me. I hope it will be the same for you. If you get even a tenth of the pleasure that I experienced, then it was worth it.
Hi all!
Suddenly, Stephenie Meyer decided to give her readers a gift and, for the tenth anniversary of the release of the first Twilight, wrote an alternative version of the book. All heroes now have the opposite gender
The story revolves around a guy named Bow, who decided not to disturb his mother in Arizona and moved to live with his father in Washington state. There he starts going to the local school and turns out to be incredibly popular with the opposite sex. But all this is alien to him, and he himself sighs for a strange girl named Edith, who simultaneously charms and frightens. Bow begins to communicate with her more and more and finds out that she has a secret...
Well, everyone is more or less familiar with the plot of Twilight. It hasn't changed much in this book. Stephanie herself said that her representative/publisher/manager (something like that) suggested that she write a letter to her readers and congratulate them on the anniversary of her first book. But Mayer decided, as a joke, to rewrite the first chapter, changing the gender of the characters. The work went surprisingly quickly, and a whole new book was born.
Since many criticized Twilight for the "girlishness" of the story, Stephanie decided to put a guy at the center of the plot. She wanted to prove that love has no gender, and this story would work if Bella and Edward switched places.
So, get acquainted!
Bow (Boufard) - new version of Bella. I wouldn't be surprised if it's translated as Bufard or something like that. So forgive me, readers of this review, - I am writing before the book was published in Russia. He is well built, has beautiful blue eyes, but he does not consider himself anything outstanding. Clumsy, constantly finding some problems. Quite smart. And modest. That is, he is a completely normal character for a book. These people are often made into superheroes. But in the world of women he turned out to be somehow very small, unfit for life and incapable of anything great.
Edith - new version of Edward. In Russia they may call her Edita,but I believe in the best. She is fragile, beautifully built, smart and stunning. She behaves exactly the same as Edward. Yes Yes. The unemancipated post-Soviet space will be shocked. At least some moments were so stupid and funny that I blushed from the awkwardness of the situations when I read.
Charlie and Renee - Bow's parents. Stephanie did not change their gender, and gave an explanation in the preface. At a time when they were getting divorced, the child would have been left with the local police chief, who had a regular job and earned a good reputation among the townspeople, than with a man who had abandoned his family and was planning to move to another state. But there is less Rene in this book than in Twilight. And Charlie is still great.
Cullens- can I not list everyone by new names?) It was extremely difficult for me to navigate their new versions, and every time I replayed in my head who said this from Twilight. Stephanie tried to find similar names, but they still came out my brain.
School party - Mike alone, who became McKayla, is worth a lot. With them, I had the same problem as with the Cullens - I kept trying to remember new names and transferred them to the previous characters.
Julie - she's Jacob. She's almost absent from the new book. Whether this is good or not is up to you to decide) By the way, what about you? #teamedward or #teamjacob?
How is it different from the original
I won't spoil it. I’ll just say that it’s different. Some scenes were rewritten word for word, only the names were changed, the author decided to correct some, but all the most interesting things are at the end. This is not 100% Twilight with new characters. This is an attempt to write an improved version of them, so don't give up in the middle - read to the end! Stephanie says that she had a wonderful opportunity to finalize the book, and not all writers can boast of this.
General impression
While reading, I periodically looked at the ratings of this book on some sites. On average, people give it 3 out of 5. Honestly, I love the first Twilight book. Not a movie, but a book. In high school it was interesting to read it, it is written in simple language and quality unpaired reading for several evenings - just right.
"Life and Death" made me laugh and blush. Well, what can I do if it’s difficult for me to perceive new characters in female form who were previously men? All these Quillette doctors, vampires, waiters, etc. Being a vampire, Edith is very strong, but her actions in some situations make not only poor Bow, but also me, blush because of her worthlessness.
So I don’t have a definite impression. I just have a physical aversion to Bow as a guy, but I really liked Edith. In the original Twilight it was the other way around.
The book was published 3 weeks ago in the USA. I bought the electronic version on Amazon. But now you can download “Life and Death” by Stephenie Meyer on VK for free. Look for a twilight group. The text is presented in English only. But even if you have an average level of language, you can handle it! The vocabulary in this book is not that difficult. When the Russian version will come out, and whether it will come out, I don’t know.
I recommend the book for Twilight fans, and then only for those who are ready to brave this feminist-filled world. It was hard for me. I give it 3.5 out of 5 and round up to 3. And I gave it a couple of stars for the last few chapters)
A unique "double" edition in which the same story is told in different ways.
The first part is the famous “Twilight” in a new translation. But the second is a new project by Stephenie Meyer, a complete “reboot” of the cult novel!
Do you want to know what would happen if Bella was a boy and Edward was a girl?
So, young Beaufort Swan moves to the boring town of Forks, who is about to meet the mysterious beauty Edith Cullen, and this meeting will change his life forever...
The work belongs to the genre of Horror and Mysticism. It was published in 2005 by AST Publishing House. The book is part of the Twilight Saga series. On our website you can download the book "Twilight / Life and Death: Twilight. Reimagined" in fb2, rtf, epub, pdf, txt format or read online. The book's rating is 3.1 out of 5. Here, before reading, you can also turn to reviews from readers who are already familiar with the book and find out their opinion. In our partner's online store you can buy and read the book in paper version.
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Description of the book Life and Death
In the romance-fantasy novel Life and Death, Stephenie Meyer continues to develop the theme of vampires. And if in the previous book “Twilight” a young vampire falls in love with an ordinary girl, then in this book, in order to tighten the plot, the author had to change the gender of the characters. A simple, modest young man Beaufort (aka Bo) transfers to another school due to a change of residence. He is shy and clumsy, but, oddly enough, girls like him. At school, Bo meets a smart, beautiful, talented girl, Edith, who immediately won his heart. Edith makes it clear to the young man in every possible way that she is not who he takes her for. But Beau, blinded by love, does not want to notice anything until the secret becomes clear. It turns out that Edith is a vampire. And after the battle in the theater studio, which became fatal for the young man, his life changes radically. Read the book Life and Death online for free and without registration in the BooksReading electronic library
Stephenie Meyer
Life and Death: Twilight. Rethinking
My boys Gabe, Seth and Eli - for helping to connect with the life experience of a young man. Without you I could not have written this book.
Preface
Hello, dear readers!
Once again, congratulations on your anniversary and I bring to your attention a new bonus, written specifically for the tenth anniversary!
Let's start in order:
PLEASE FORGIVE ME.
I understand that there will be a lot of crying and gnashing of teeth - because this new bonus text is: a) not entirely, but mostly new and b) this is not “Midnight Sun”. (If you think I can't empathize with your suffering, I assure you that my mother explained everything to me with utmost clarity.) I will explain how this happened in the hope of, if not correcting the situation, at least making it understandable.
Just recently, my agent contacted me and asked me to prepare something for the next edition of Twilight, dedicated to the tenth anniversary of the novel. The publisher was expecting some kind of preface or author’s letter “happy anniversary!” It looked... frankly, boring. What could I write that was so funny and exciting? Nothing. I started thinking about what else I could do, and that's when I came up with the idea of Midnight Sun. The problem was time, or rather, the lack of it. There was definitely not enough time to write not only the whole novel, but even half of the novel.
As I thought about Twilight after such a long time and discussed the anniversary issue with friends, I focused on what I had said in interviews and at book signings. The fact is that Bella was often criticized for constantly having to be rescued. Readers complained that she was a typical “damsel in distress.” To this I objected every time that the person was “in trouble.” Bella is an ordinary human being, surrounded by circumstances by superheroes and supervillains. Bella was also criticized for being overly fixated on her lover, as if this was only characteristic of girls. I've always been of the opinion that if the human in the story had been a young man and the vampire a girl, the story would have been the same. Gender and species aside, Twilight is a tale of magic, frenzy and the obsession of first love.
And I thought: what if I tested this theory? This could really be interesting. As usual, I set to work, convinced that I would only have enough for one or two chapters. (It's funny and sad that I still don't seem to know myself very well.) Remember when I said there wasn't enough time? Luckily, this project was not only fun, but also quick and easy. It turned out that the love of a female person for a male vampire is not much different from the love of a male person for a vampire. This is how Bo and Edith were born.
A few notes about processing:
1. I have conscientiously reverse-gendered all Twilight characters - with two exceptions:
The most significant exception is Charlie and Renee, who remained Charlie and Renee. And here's the reason: Beau was born in 1987. In those days, fathers were rarely able to obtain primary custody, especially when it came to an infant. This would only be possible if the mother was declared insolvent. I cannot believe that at that time (and even now) there would be a judge who would give a child to a father who does not have a permanent home and job, rather than to a mother who has a stable job and strong connections in the community. Of course, if Charlie decided to fight for Bella these days, he would probably be able to take her away from Renee. Thus, the scenario that played out in Twilight would be less likely today. It was only thanks to the fact that several decades ago the mother's rights were considered more important than the father's rights, and the fact that Charlie is not vengeful or vindictive, that Rene had the opportunity to raise Bella, and in our case, Beau.
The second exception is very minor, involving several minor characters who are mentioned only twice. This exception is due to my misplaced sense of justice towards fictional persons. In the vast Twilight universe, there were two characters who were constantly victims of injustice. So instead of changing their gender, I gave them a chance. It didn't add anything to the plot. I threw out this trick, indulging my neurosis.
2. There are many more changes in the text than were necessary due to Bo's male gender, so I decided to classify them for you. Of course, this is only a rough estimate. I didn’t count how many words I changed, and I didn’t keep any calculations at all.
I made 5% of the changes because Beau is a guy.
5% of the changes are explained by the fact that Bo's personality developed slightly differently than Bella's. The most significant differences are that his OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) is more pronounced, he is not at all pretentious in his words and thoughts, and he is not so irritated - he is generally devoid of the feeling of hidden resentment that does not leave Bella.
I made 70% of the changes because ten years later I was given the opportunity to re-edit the text. I corrected almost every word that had been bugging me since the book came out, and it was amazing.
10% of the changes are those that I would like to make from the very beginning, but didn’t think of. This point may seem the same as the previous one, but there is a slight difference between the two. In this case, the reference is not to a clumsy expression or an unfortunate turn of phrase, but to an idea that I should have tried earlier, or dialogue that I should have written but did not write.
5% of the changes relate to mythology - in fact, to errors in it, mainly in connection with visions. Working on the Twilight sequels and even on Midnight Sun, for which I had to work with Edward to understand what was going on in Alice's head, I reworked and improved the descriptions of her visions. There is more mysticism in Twilight, and now it is clear what Alice's role should have been in it (but wasn't!). Oof!
That leaves another 5% for the many different changes I made for various and certainly selfish reasons.
I hope you find the story of Bo and Edith captivating, even if it's not what you were expecting. Working on the new version gave me real pleasure. Unexpectedly, I fell in love with Bo and Edith, and the fictional world of Forks became fresh and joyful for me again - I hope the same will happen to you. If you experience even a tenth of the pleasure that I got from this work, then the game was worth the candle.
Thank you for reading my books. Thank you for being in this world, thank you for being such an amazing and unexpected source of joy in my life over the past decade.
With great love,
Review of the book “Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined” by Stephenie Meyer, written as part of the “Not a Day Without Books” competition. Review author: Daria Taratukhina.
“So you’re saying that I’m your brand of heroin?” I joked, trying to diffuse the situation.
She smiled quickly, as if appreciating my efforts:
“Yes, you are exactly my kind of heroin.”
I’ll say right away that I don’t really like such works, but this book interested me. And it left surprisingly positive emotions. To be clear, I prefer to read all popular works, just to have my own opinion about them, and a sort of literary masochist, although sometimes I come across really good ones. I think you have already concluded that of course I read the original series. I confess that at the age of twelve I even liked her, but a couple of years later, my brains fell into place, and I saw how much this story is snotty, illogical, and in general I will tactfully remain silent about the language, although it has happened worse. Now Stephenie Meyer has released a new work with an old plot, which honestly sounds like a scam, doesn’t it? And what a title, “Life and Death. Twilight: Reimagined." But it intrigued me to the core, I was just wondering if a remake, especially one written in such a short time, could be better than the original? The answer is yes! To be honest, the story hasn’t become much better or less snotty, but it has become different, more enjoyable or something, the characters are more interesting, and the plot is more logical.
And so the first thing I want to note is that in the original series, we have a clumsy gray mouse who loves romance novels, but at the same time is so stupid that there aren’t even any thoughts in her head, and the whole plot revolves around her choice between a rich, heartless, cold prince, and a loyal, sincere and ardent Indian. No, seriously, if you read this book without girlish fanaticism, you begin to notice all this subtext, it’s a pity that the author herself apparently did not understand what she wanted to say and ended up ruining everything. In general, this instilled the idea that it began to creep into young girls’ minds that you don’t have to try to improve yourself, you don’t have to be smart, beautiful and successful to be loved, it’s enough to look lovingly and timidly at the object of your adoration and he will love you. In the new version, it would seem that everyone was simply moved around, what’s wrong with that? But that was not the case, the characters acquired more correct features. They already want to empathize, they already seem more real.
And so now we have a slightly clumsy guy who has been burdened by his mother all his life, due to which at seventeen he already feels much older than the rest of his peers, at school he is of course a slob, but outwardly he is not very bad, unlike his protégé , basically such a typical nice guy. And even now the inability to read his thoughts can be explained by isolation, secrecy, and not stupidity; you can really fall in love with such a serious, albeit slightly clumsy guy. And Komsomol member, athlete and simply beautiful Edith looks more in her place, unlike the mysterious effeminate vampire. No seriously, now his/her whims, temper, etc., can easily be explained by the feminine essence - bitchness. Apart from the fact that the characters were subjected to betrayal, the plot also changed, at the beginning this was not noticeable at all, but it would be a pity that some moments would not have been bad to add, they really did not fit into this new - old book, but probably Stephenie Meyer left them out of ardent love for fans, but the ending was a pleasant surprise, it just made me really happy. This is exactly how the original series should have ended, beautifully, in multiples, a little cruel, but somehow believable. Yes, there wouldn’t be three more books, and with it a love triangle, royalties... but damn it, it’s really better, I repeat, it’s more logical and realistic. The change of genders also introduced into the book such problems as gender equality, that in modern society a girl still needs not only to take care of herself, but also to develop, and guys, in addition to education, also need to have a sense of responsibility, etc. In total, morality can be made.
Of course, I won’t be able to include this work on the list of my favorites; there’s still too much “pink snot” and inconsistencies. But it has definitely gotten better, which is good news. Perhaps in ten years another “Rethinking” will come out, which will be even better, and maybe in a couple of years I will want to re-read this book, which, alas, did not happen with the previous one.
The review was written as part of the competition “Not a day without books”,
author of the review: Daria Taratukhina.
Stephenie Meyer
Life and Death: Twilight. Rethinking
My boys Gabe, Seth and Eli - for helping to connect with the life experience of a young man. Without you I could not have written this book.
Preface
Hello, dear readers!
Once again, congratulations on your anniversary and I bring to your attention a new bonus, written specifically for the tenth anniversary!
Let's start in order:
PLEASE FORGIVE ME.
I understand that there will be a lot of crying and gnashing of teeth - because this new bonus text is: a) not entirely, but mostly new and b) this is not “Midnight Sun”. (If you think I can't empathize with your suffering, I assure you that my mother explained everything to me with utmost clarity.) I will explain how this happened in the hope of, if not correcting the situation, at least making it understandable.
Just recently, my agent contacted me and asked me to prepare something for the next edition of Twilight, dedicated to the tenth anniversary of the novel. The publisher was expecting some kind of preface or author’s letter “happy anniversary!” It looked... frankly, boring. What could I write that was so funny and exciting? Nothing. I started thinking about what else I could do, and that's when I came up with the idea of Midnight Sun. The problem was time, or rather, the lack of it. There was definitely not enough time to write not only the whole novel, but even half of the novel.
As I thought about Twilight after such a long time and discussed the anniversary issue with friends, I focused on what I had said in interviews and at book signings. The fact is that Bella was often criticized for constantly having to be rescued. Readers complained that she was a typical “damsel in distress.” To this I objected every time that the person was “in trouble.” Bella is an ordinary human being, surrounded by circumstances by superheroes and supervillains. Bella was also criticized for being overly fixated on her lover, as if this was only characteristic of girls. I've always been of the opinion that if the human in the story had been a young man and the vampire a girl, the story would have been the same. Gender and species aside, Twilight is a tale of magic, frenzy and the obsession of first love.
And I thought: what if I tested this theory? This could really be interesting. As usual, I set to work, convinced that I would only have enough for one or two chapters. (It's funny and sad that I still don't seem to know myself very well.) Remember when I said there wasn't enough time? Luckily, this project was not only fun, but also quick and easy. It turned out that the love of a female person for a male vampire is not much different from the love of a male person for a vampire. This is how Bo and Edith were born.
A few notes about processing:
1. I have conscientiously reverse-gendered all Twilight characters - with two exceptions:
The most significant exception is Charlie and Renee, who remained Charlie and Renee. And here's the reason: Beau was born in 1987. In those days, fathers were rarely able to obtain primary custody, especially when it came to an infant. This would only be possible if the mother was declared insolvent. I cannot believe that at that time (and even now) there would be a judge who would give a child to a father who does not have a permanent home and job, rather than to a mother who has a stable job and strong connections in the community. Of course, if Charlie decided to fight for Bella these days, he would probably be able to take her away from Renee. Thus, the scenario that played out in Twilight would be less likely today. It was only thanks to the fact that several decades ago the mother's rights were considered more important than the father's rights, and the fact that Charlie is not vengeful or vindictive, that Rene had the opportunity to raise Bella, and in our case, Beau.
The second exception is very minor, involving several minor characters who are mentioned only twice. This exception is due to my misplaced sense of justice towards fictional persons. In the vast Twilight universe, there were two characters who were constantly victims of injustice. So instead of changing their gender, I gave them a chance. It didn't add anything to the plot. I threw out this trick, indulging my neurosis.
2. There are many more changes in the text than were necessary due to Bo's male gender, so I decided to classify them for you. Of course, this is only a rough estimate. I didn’t count how many words I changed, and I didn’t keep any calculations at all.
I made 5% of the changes because Beau is a guy.
5% of the changes are explained by the fact that Bo's personality developed slightly differently than Bella's. The most significant differences are that his OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) is more pronounced, he is not at all pretentious in his words and thoughts, and he is not so irritated - he is generally devoid of the feeling of hidden resentment that does not leave Bella.
I made 70% of the changes because ten years later I was given the opportunity to re-edit the text. I corrected almost every word that had been bugging me since the book came out, and it was amazing.
10% of the changes are those that I would like to make from the very beginning, but didn’t think of. This point may seem the same as the previous one, but there is a slight difference between the two. In this case, the reference is not to a clumsy expression or an unfortunate turn of phrase, but to an idea that I should have tried earlier, or dialogue that I should have written but did not write.
5% of the changes relate to mythology - in fact, to errors in it, mainly in connection with visions. Working on the Twilight sequels and even on Midnight Sun, for which I had to work with Edward to understand what was going on in Alice's head, I reworked and improved the descriptions of her visions. There is more mysticism in Twilight, and now it is clear what Alice's role should have been in it (but wasn't!). Oof!
That leaves another 5% for the many different changes I made for various and certainly selfish reasons.
I hope you find the story of Bo and Edith captivating, even if it's not what you were expecting. Working on the new version gave me real pleasure. Unexpectedly, I fell in love with Bo and Edith, and the fictional world of Forks became fresh and joyful for me again - I hope the same will happen to you. If you experience even a tenth of the pleasure that I got from this work, then the game was worth the candle.
Thank you for reading my books. Thank you for being in this world, thank you for being such an amazing and unexpected source of joy in my life over the past decade.
With great love,