Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined

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Twilight along with the rest of the books in the saga were the reason I started reading and if it wasn't for them I probably would have never joined Booktube. When I heard about this new book I cried (I know pretty dramatic) but I'm turning 18 tomorrow aka the "ending" of my childhood and honestly it's weird since I still feel like I'm 8. With the release of this book it made me realize I own a lot to Stephenie Meyer and I cannot wait to read this book. Well, it kind of means that this book has exactly the same problems as the original. The biggest ones being that no issues of gender roles are fixed, merely further highlighted, and the relationship between Beau and Edythe is just as unhealthy as Bella and Edward's. Meyer, by the way, failed to comment in her opening about the criticisms the book received because the relationship it portrays is downright abusive, but you can be damn sure that flipping the genders did nothing to fix that. People do not want to just read Meyer's books; they want to climb inside them and live there." — Time Beau is determined to bring peace to his hometown along with both all three species since he is going to bare the first ever Human/Vampire/Werewolf. With too many complications along when way, Beau may have to decide to be a single father and live their life in hiding if the fathers don't shape up. Language: English Words: 11,912 Chapters: 7/? Comments: 5 Kudos: 58 Bookmarks: 8 Hits: 2,342 This was a cool idea - instead of Edward, we have Edyth, instead of Bella, we have Beau, etc. Like before, Beau/Bella moves to town, and falls in love with a 100-year-old vampire (etc). "It would be more...prudent for you not to be my friend," she explained. "But I'm tired of trying to stay away from you, Beau."What changes is our perception of the story due to gender roles - for example Dr Cullen (now Dr Corrine Cullen) lives in Forks because her husband (Ernest/Esme) adores small-town life.

So when I heard of Life and Death, literally the day it released, I knew I'd buy it. No questions asked. I was hoping many of the issues I had with Twilight would be corrected with this version. It had so much potential to be great! I never expected there to be huge drastic changes to the story -- I did expect it to be pretty much the same as Twilight, so believe me when I say that was the least of its problems. Beau did SO many things that would make sense as a girl (aka as Bella), but since he was a man, those actions no longer made sense. In the afterword of Life and Death, Meyer said the new novel is not just about changing Bella’s gender to become a male. She said she wanted to see what would happen if the series had ended with the first Twilight book and if the timing of the plot had been different. It took me a while to stop thinking of Beau as Bella and all the other gender swap characters, but eventually I started to enjoy the little changes and adaptations. Yes it is still pretty much the same exact story but there are a few little changes and holes filled in. You know, the writing cleaned up a bit. And accommodation for Bella/Beau being a boy and all. And there is a fairly predictable alternative ending that I liked under the circumstances.Now that is not to say I wanted to see men get rape in Life and Death. It's just a glaring problem where I now see those scenes as "Literary Rape," used as plot devices to add depth and sympathy to Rosalie's character, and to give Edward a reason to look super heroic in the face of rapists. Maggie Stiefvater said it best in This is a Post About Literary Rape:

See, this is what I mean; Meyer claims gender is a non-issue with her book, but by this choice of *not* swapping Charlie and Renee's roles, despite the fact that EVERY. OTHER. CHARACTER. has swapped roles raises more than just an eyebrow; it slaps us in the face that her non-issue argument is a load of crap, because it is VERY MUCH an issue. Years ago, when Twilight was in its prime, someone told me that Breaking Dawn was never supposed to happen. That it was the book where Stephenie Meyer was given free reign to do whatever she wanted because the series was so popular, everyone would buy it regardless of quality, and rake in big dough-cheese for her and her publishers. I don't really know how true that assumption is, but dammit if isn't true for Life and Death. WHEN BEAUFORT SWAN MOVES TO THE gloomy town of Forks and meets the mysterious, alluring Edythe Cullen, his life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. With her porcelain skin, golden eyes, mesmerizing voice, and supernatural gifts, Edythe is both irresistible and enigmatic. In the hands of a more skilled writer, this might have been pulled off flawlessly. I found the changes she made with Beau's narration interesting. Meyer mentioned in the Forward that Bella is more flowery with her words, where Beau is not. This is a complete understatement. The one thing Twilight actually had going for it, was the occasionally pretty quote. I say occasional, because the novel contains too many short, simple sentences than I usually like in my books. In Life and Death's case, the writing has been watered down so much that it feels on par with See Spot Run. And I don't necessarily think this is a gender thing. Just because a character is a boy, doesn't mean he can't be articulate or well-versed.

Sigh. I don't think I need to go into why this is problematic, so I'll just leave that there for your critique. It look me a lot longer than usual to fully lose myself in Life and Death. This was actually the fourth time I’d attempted to read it – I’d never made it past the first three chapters. I think I’ve always been too close to Bella and Edward. It’s difficult to separate them from Beau and Edythe. It’s also impossible not to draw comparisons. Especially because Beau’s inner monologue is practically identical to Bella’s. Well, at least during the first few chapters. BUT [hello positives!], by smoothing over Twilight’s anti-feminist claims, Life and Death prompted some very important conversations. Let’s be real – most of these conversations should have happened in Twilight. You know what they say, hindsight is 20/20. So, I reread the entirety of Twilight in preparation for this novel. I really shouldn't have. Twilight was not re-imagined... this was literally the same book.