The Host by Stephenie Meyer
Dear Stephenie Meyer,
When I was first considering reading The Host I was reluctant. I was a pessimist thinking about how it wasn't emotionally possible to be as good as your Twilight series. That the writing that made me love the impossible romance where vampires and werewolves exist (and Edward!) was surely a fluke.
I was wrong. I'm sorry I doubted you. I didn't think it was possible but I may just love this novel more than Twilight (etc.) although I am quiet about it. I don't want my fellow Twilighters to string me up for my heresy. Also the summary on the jacket flap does not do justice to the complicated love and morality inherent to the story.
When I first got the book I let it sit in my room for several days - a week at least. I would eye it warily, not really certain that I wanted to get emotionally bound to another book but reassuring myself with my pessimism. I started slow (or so I thought). The first day I started the book I only took in the first nine chapters; just enough to lay the groundwork. The second day I read a little more but not much. I think I knew (somewhere underneath the surface) that if I got too much farther in I would be lost. The third day I could not put the book down. I still had to go to work and about my normal routines but I was a shell of a human - most of my consciousness with the book and the characters. I worried with Wanderer about whether Jamie was okay and if he was getting enough to eat. I agonized over whether the Seeker would drag Mel and Wanda back to "civilization." The fourth night I stayed up until four a.m. finishing the story: crying when things seemed hopeless, smiling when Wanda really got the hang of sarcasm.
The story was truly beautifully written. With such a complicated plot it would have been all too easy to stray from the main point and go off on a tangent or develop the characters too fast. I was constantly impressed with the depth of emotion the writing wrought within me. When I cried it was not for me or any related memories I might identify with but for the characters themselves: their hurts, their sorrows, their hopelessness.
The long and the short of it is that I can't remember ever being so moved by one single book (or movie or song) and I am a voracious reader (watcher, listener). So thank you. I look forward to whatever else you may write (Twilight related or otherwise, although I do wish you'd continue on with Midnight Sun - I still haven't read it out of respect for the process. I don't think I'll read it until you actually publish it. Please don't let me down!).
Thank you for bringing to life Melanie and Wanda and all the rest. It has been an experience I won't soon forget.
Maria
Dear Stephenie Meyer,
When I was first considering reading The Host I was reluctant. I was a pessimist thinking about how it wasn't emotionally possible to be as good as your Twilight series. That the writing that made me love the impossible romance where vampires and werewolves exist (and Edward!) was surely a fluke.
I was wrong. I'm sorry I doubted you. I didn't think it was possible but I may just love this novel more than Twilight (etc.) although I am quiet about it. I don't want my fellow Twilighters to string me up for my heresy. Also the summary on the jacket flap does not do justice to the complicated love and morality inherent to the story.
When I first got the book I let it sit in my room for several days - a week at least. I would eye it warily, not really certain that I wanted to get emotionally bound to another book but reassuring myself with my pessimism. I started slow (or so I thought). The first day I started the book I only took in the first nine chapters; just enough to lay the groundwork. The second day I read a little more but not much. I think I knew (somewhere underneath the surface) that if I got too much farther in I would be lost. The third day I could not put the book down. I still had to go to work and about my normal routines but I was a shell of a human - most of my consciousness with the book and the characters. I worried with Wanderer about whether Jamie was okay and if he was getting enough to eat. I agonized over whether the Seeker would drag Mel and Wanda back to "civilization." The fourth night I stayed up until four a.m. finishing the story: crying when things seemed hopeless, smiling when Wanda really got the hang of sarcasm.
The story was truly beautifully written. With such a complicated plot it would have been all too easy to stray from the main point and go off on a tangent or develop the characters too fast. I was constantly impressed with the depth of emotion the writing wrought within me. When I cried it was not for me or any related memories I might identify with but for the characters themselves: their hurts, their sorrows, their hopelessness.
The long and the short of it is that I can't remember ever being so moved by one single book (or movie or song) and I am a voracious reader (watcher, listener). So thank you. I look forward to whatever else you may write (Twilight related or otherwise, although I do wish you'd continue on with Midnight Sun - I still haven't read it out of respect for the process. I don't think I'll read it until you actually publish it. Please don't let me down!).
Thank you for bringing to life Melanie and Wanda and all the rest. It has been an experience I won't soon forget.
Maria
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