Fifty Shades Darker by E L James

I actually liked the first book in this series. (Review here: http://thewellreadfloridian.blogspot.com/2012/10/fifty-shades-of-grey-by-e-l-james.html ) I wish I could say the same for this second book. In James’ first book she had at least a passable vocabulary. In this book, I did not see the same. At least there were still a few complex sentences scattered about the book. Despite that, it seemed the overall writing went downhill. I also noticed more repetition in this book. If I read the phrase “inner goddess” one more time I swear I will gouge my eyeballs out with a spoon!

Further, the book simply did not hold my attention. It took me weeks to read this book. That is uncommon. I simply could not get into this book. Frankly I found it boring. The author in no way caught my attention in this second book as she did in the first. In fact, I only finished the book out of pure stubbornness. I paid good money for this book, so by God I’m gonna finish it!

Now I will say that the characters did show a bit of development in this installment of the Fifty Shades series. I can’t say that they developed in any surprising way. As with the first books the characters and the character development was clichéd and very predictable.

The one thing I was very thankful for was that this book was not quite as “educational” as the last. Admittedly it was still quite sexually explicit, but to my relief, it didn’t embarrass me this time. Perhaps because the sex was more vanilla in this book?

I still would not recommend this book or this series for the younger reader or the timid reader. Neither would I recommend these books for the easily offended. And, if you’re open minded and don’t mind graphic sex, I’d only recommend this book if you’re truly interested in reading the whole series. Frankly, I fear this series will go the way of the Twilight series it was based on -- steadily downhill with each installment.

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

This drivel was a defining moment in our young adult literary culture? Have we forgotten from whence we came? Apparently.

How to put this nicely? This book sucked sh!t through a paper straw. I don't even know where to begin. I guess I can start with the basics. It was poorly written. It was almost as if this book had been written by committee. It was so far fetched it left me rolling my eyes and thinking to myself, "This is why people can't take this genre of book seriously!" Even when I repeatedly reminded myself this was only mind candy, I still couldn't find anything within the book to recommend it. The characters were flat with no real development. The plot showed she was obviously reaching for straws. And the whole thing with Jacob and the baby just made me want to puke. That was just SICK! I forced myself to finish the book, but it was a total waste of my very valuable time. Do yourself a favor and go read something else -- ANYTHING else...even if it's the phone book.

Writing YA Literature

I had an interesting conversation this week in which I made the comment that Stephenie Meyer's writing was elementary, uninspired and full of cliches. The person I was talking to said, "Well, I've heard her books were written for children from the fourth or fifth grade up to high school." I was speechless. (Those of you who know me, know this is as rare as seeing a baiji.)

For several long moments I could only stare in wonder and stupefied amazement. Really? Really?! Am I to understand correctly then, that writing for preteens and teens (typically referred to as YA) means you dumb down your writing? Frankly, I can't even begin to wrap my mind around this reasoning.

Reading, whether fiction or non-fiction, serves to stretch the mind. When one encounters good, proper writing the vocabulary, sentence structure, syntax and grammar work to edify the mind. The work itself should give the reader something to think on, perhaps even introduce a heretofore unconsidered topic.

Yet common thinking, and I hesitate to even call this thinking, dictates that writing for YA should be elementary. In other words -- condescending. No wonder my son started reading adult books in the fourth grade!

Parents and teachers all say they want children to read to enhance the learning process. How does the Twilight series enhance the learning process? And lest you think I am only finding fault with Stephenie Meyer -- I'm not. There are several offenders. Stephenie Meyer simply has the "distinction" of being the most popular offender at the moment.

As I've pondered this topic, I've come to the conclusion that writing YA literature should be like writing for adults. YA authors should strive to write in a style that showcases good vocabulary, proper use of grammar, and engaging plots and characters. The YA author should seek to introduce unique perspectives and ideas that cause the young reader to think beyond the confines of his present world. The only thing the YA author should refrain from is inappropriate subject matter. In all other aspects, YA literature should mimic adult literature.

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

I don't know how many books Stephenie Meyer had written prior to the third book in the Twilight series. At least I know for sure she wrote two. One would think her writing would have improved over the course of two or more books. I suppose that's what I get for thinking. Believe it or not, her writing has gotten worse! She carries forward the same problems from the first two books -- elementary writing, poor grammar, cliched plotting and characters -- and then adds to them! Instead of her writing maturing, it seems to digress. Instead of her characters really coming to life they remain stagnant. This is the third book in the series! By now the reader should be enjoying well developed characters that have really taken on a life of their own. Also, as this is the third book in the series, the plot should really be ramping up and drawing you in -- it should be building up to the fourth book and making you want to read the end and know what happens. Instead the plot leaves me cold.

In short:

The books get worse and worse.... Ridiculous plot (even for a vampire book), no character development, poor prose.... The list goes on and on. If you've read my other reviews for the series then you know I don't judge mind candy very harshly at all. But this book was just too poorly written to let off easy...even as mind candy. The author is ruining what could have been a great series. I'm almost afraid to ask what she has in store for us in the last book.