Addicted to YA discussion

What did you think of him?

He is a stalker amd really creepy!!!!

Anne wrote: "He is a stalker amd really creepy!!!!"

I'll admit that the first time I read this I was completely Team Edward but after rereading it a couple years later I find him creepy and stalkerish too.

haha Yep:)

he becomes kind of boring as the series progresses...

I love Edward!

I love Edward I wish I had a Guy who loved me endlessly like he loves Bella

Reading Twilight, I've gotta say I didn't really like him at all. I found him too... much. Too loving, too perfect, too protective, too devoted, too competitive with Jacob. What sold Twilight for me was Bella and her endearing character.And I think Stephanie Meyer must have realized that Edward wasn't good enough because Jacob had huge roles in the last 3 books.

Haha I totally agree with you Webiny.

Yeah he's just too 'perfect'.

I wouldn't classify him as perfect :P

I loved him. I love how he loves Bella so much and would do anything to keep her safe, including going away like he did in New Moon.

Ugh he annoys me. Perfect definition of a stalker. If a guy came up to me and said he watched me while I slept, i don't know about you, I would be pretty creeped.

I think he is so amazing and just WOW!! Also Robert Pattison as Edward Cullen... He is so sexy!! :)

DS I always loved Edward's character. I think people miss the point that he's NOT human, he's a creature posing as a person-so he's supposed to be creepy. I think that's what always appealed to me about twilight. There is an inherent, other worldliness about it. It's not just a cute love story between teenagers. I was lucky enough to have been a huge fan before the movies came around and clouded everyone's minds.

I first read Twilight when I was 13, and instantly became obsessed with it!! It is the series that got me into reading i the first place, so it will always have a special place in my heart. I'm not gunna lie, I read the series about 16-18 times in a three year span, that's how much I loved it. However I'm going to re-read it soon because now that I'm older I have a lot of a different outlook. The first 17 times I read this series I was OBSESSED with Edward, but now that I'm older I find the series still cute, but I find that Edward is controlling and manipulative. What I liked about him though, is that he'd do anything to keep Bella alive and go to any length to save her life. Yes there are times when he may have gone overboard with the protection and everything, and was creepy at times I still love this series, and always will. :)

He is perfect in an annoying,stupid way. I think he is childish, creepy, stupid and stalker. I don't hate him.The first time I read Twilight about 2 years ago, I fell in love with him, but then I changed my mind when i reread it because I realized how ugly his personality is.

I love Edward! The twilight saga was the first saga That I read, and I started to love reading after that! I love Edward Cullen, he is one of my favorite vampire heroes and his love for Bella just consumed me!

I love Edward. He's far from perfect, but is a fascinating character, as he's someone who fights against a natural tendency simply because he believes it will lead him to do something morally wrong. I like his nobility and his ability to acknowledge his mistakes (and he made plenty) and learn from them.

When I read Midnight Sun I totally realized what a creep he was but...I WAS OBSESSED WITH THE STORY! I could barely put it down and creepiness side, he was so sweet!

I personally think he's a little brooding. I used to be Team Edward when I first read the series but looking back I"m just thinking yeah..no

Well, Edward wasn't perfect but he was amazing! I loved the way he was reacting to Bella. Definitely team Edward

Hate him. He is a stalker and a control freak.

The movie is better than the book. The first time i met edward in the movie, he is woooh swoon~ but after he mention about watching bella sleep. I was like okay you're creepy do you do that often? I mean did u also watch her bath or something?. Geez edward. I like how he protect bella but too OVER protective. I mean i like it but i feel like i trap to edward and i cant do anything. I like Alice though she so cheerful. But i still on team Edward though. Sorry jacob.

I like Jacob better. Edward it too perfect.

I never understand why people think Edward is perfect. One of the reasons I find him so fascinating is because of all his flaws. Perfect characters aren't nearly as interesting as a flawed one who's struggling to do the right thing.

Ertica wrote: "The movie is better than the book. The first time i met edward in the movie, he is woooh swoon~ but after he mention about watching bella sleep. I was like okay you're creepy do you do that often? ..."

You're cracking me up! "Okay do you do that often? I mean did you also watch her bathe or something? GEEZ EDWARD." Ha ha haaa! I never would have thought about it that way.

Anyway, I quite like Edward, personally. I would love to have a guy be that overwhelmingly drawn to me despite himself and love me that intensely and be super protective of me. I do prefer Jacob, though. Better personality.

J wrote: "Ertica wrote: "The movie is better than the book. The first time i met edward in the movie, he is woooh swoon~ but after he mention about watching bella sleep. I was like okay you're creepy do you ..."

Hahaha! Ikr!! He's so creepy but fantastic

Edward is an unbelievably unrealistic character, wholly without credibility.

I loved Edward. His perfect hair, smell, personality, appearance, EVERYTHING about him!!! I think he was portrayed badly in the movie with all the STARING :::::::) but in the book you get to see more of his personality and views of life as a vampire and himself (he is not just an obsessive stalker I promise!)

I loved Edward so much in the books and films! his mysterious behaviour and his utter love for Bella are amazing

Namra wrote: "Edward is a stalker and totally anti-feminist. He over protects Bella. I don't like him. Also very boring as the series progresses."

I agree with you.

Go Team Jacob!!

I loved him in the movies, I guess it was the actor. I didn't care for him in the books. I wanted to slap him.

I loved Edward and Bella in the books. Both were potrayed pretty badly in the movies because some things just can't beat reading. I read Twilight as a joke a year ago because my friends had said it was terrible, but I actually really loved it and how strong the bond between the two of them were. Neither were perfect in any sense, but together they were, if you get what I mean. And that's what made me like it.

As much as I love Edward, I have to say that sometimes he annoyed me endlessly, especially with the whole love triangle thing and how he just let Bella hurt him continuously and still loved her completely. But, I guess flaws are what makes characters real. I'd take Edward over Jacob any day.

Tadeja wrote: "As much as I love Edward, I have to say that sometimes he annoyed me endlessly, especially with the whole love triangle thing and how he just let Bella hurt him continuously and still loved her com..."

I agree with you.

Jingle ❤️ wrote: "I loved Edward and Bella in the books. Both were potrayed pretty badly in the movies because some things just can't beat reading. I read Twilight as a joke a year ago because my friends had said it..."

I agree. ^^

Is it bad I still love him? I think he is a sweet guy with an imperfect personality, which I like because he is supposed to look and seem perfect. Anyway, I think he is portrayed a lot better in the books.

Lynne wrote: "I never understand why people think Edward is perfect. One of the reasons I find him so fascinating is because of all his flaws. Perfect characters aren't nearly as interesting as a flawed one who'..."

No one really 'thinks' of him as perfect, it's that within the narrative he's treated as such. He can do no wrong in anybody's eyes and the ones that do think he can do wrong are treated as the enemy or thought of as 'wrong' by the other characters, more specifically Bella. This is one of the reasons he gets criticized as being a Gary Sue because he's a classic example of character shilling.

Things like him having to struggle with control, but yet you rarely see it before he gets over it easily. That makes his struggle not seem as significant as both Bella and Edward are making it to be and the praise he gets undeserved because it's like "of course he got over it, he's perfect, it's not like Bella hasn't said it every other page". When he's 'respectable' to Jacob or Charlie, Bella always commends him on it adding to the 'perfect' facade. It takes us, the reader, to probe the situation further to realize he's just manipulating them and Bella, so things go his way. He's still her perfect Edward when he takes the cable out of her truck prohibiting her to go where she wants to go. He's still her perfect Edward when he has his sister kidnap her once again prohibiting her to go where she wants. (Which these are both signs of an abusive boyfriend that's literally on the list of warning signs on the website) And worst of all he's still her perfect Edward when he leaves her in the woods alone knowing full well how long she would be out there (he left Charlie a note and also Alice probably had a vision), making a decision that she definitely should have been in on and using her deepest insecurities to break her down.

All of that is flaws in his character, but are hidden under the guise of him just protecting her, so he maintains his 'perfectness' and never suffers the consequences nor is he ever reprimanded for such because Bella is too afraid to lose him if she does. That's what makes these 'flaws' not flaws in the book and thus making him perfect to readers or really annoying to those that aren't falling for it.

I liked Edward. Yes, him following Bella around like a lost puppy dog is pretty sad. If it was unwanted attention I would agree that yes he stalks Bella. But since it is wanted attention I'd call him a voyeur before anything else.

Victoria wrote: "Not perfect. Overprotective. Controlling at times. Very loving.
He would have been creepy, if Bella didn't like that, but she did.

But it seems to me that everybody always forget the fact that Edw..."

That one of the things I found inconsistent even when I liked the book. He seems to have a bit of an arrested development to the point that he doesn't act like he's over 100 years old, but Bella constantly talks about how he speaks so formal and like he's old or from another time and yet he mostly talks like her. I was always baffled by this "other worldliness" she talked about when she was referring to him because he seemed to talk and act like any other teenager, a little more reserved, but other than that he was pretty typical.

I can't remember where it was I'll give the link later, but it was comparing SM writing to JKR and one good point it had is that there's not much distinguishable in the dialogue of each character namely Bella and Edward. When you take a piece of dialogue from Bella and one from Edward out of context you don't immediately known who's dialogue was who's because they talk exactly the same and that was consistent with most of the characters.

Victoria wrote: "Not perfect. Overprotective. Controlling at times. Very loving.
He would have been creepy, if Bella didn't like that, but she did.

But it seems to me that everybody always forget the fact that Edw..."

I'm sorry, but abuse us a abuse no matter what. Her liking it doesn't excuse the action especially since his behavior progresses far worse than stalking her. He exhibits clear red flags for an abusive boyfriend. Her liking just makes her an enabler, the woman who goes back to the husband who beats her because she "loves him" — does her loving him exempt him from being an abuser just because she keeps coming back. I hope you're answer is no. All it really means is if someone trues to help her it's not going to work because she doesn't want to help herself.

KarmaSc0rpi0n wrote:I'm sorry, but abuse us a abuse no matter what. Her liking it doesn't excuse the action especially since his behavior progresses far worse than stalking her. He exhibits clear red flags for an abusive boyfriend.

While I agree abuse is abuse, I do not agree that just because you exhibit clear red flags for potential of an abusive boyfriend, doesn't automatically make you one. I don't ever recall Edward hitting Bella.

Heidi wrote: "KarmaSc0rpi0n wrote:I'm sorry, but abuse us a abuse no matter what. Her liking it doesn't excuse the action especially since his behavior progresses far worse than stalking her. He exhibits clear r..."

In what universe do you live in where abuse is only physical. He actually emotionally abuses her quite often. Just read chapter 2 of Eclipse where he first guilts Bella into doing what he wants by reprimanding her about the "gifts" he hid from her to begin with (which is a form of abuse of its own) and then specifically goes against he wishes by telling Charlie about the plane tickets forcing her hand. There are many more examples of him doing this exact kind of thing, but this is closer to my memory.

Manipulating your girlfriend into doing something she doesn't want to is psychological abuse especially with the same ferocity as Edward displayed that chapter. Instead of respect her decision or even respecting her opinions enough to tell her the truth he automatically went to emotional manipulation. Physically hitting her isn't a requirement for it to be abuse.

Domestic Violence Isn't Always Physical is a good article on the subject and in fact a lot of those signs describe Bella, so much to the point that I wonder if SM specifically wrote their relationship to be abusive on purpose (or was just too dumb to understand that there's more kinds of abuse than physical). Abuse Isn't always Physical is another one that describes a lot of Edwards behavior, he displays the first 7 signs. Here's an account of a woman who was abused in her relationship and her husband never once hit her.

Saying that exhibiting clear red flags doesn't automatically make you one is incorrect because they aren't signs that your boyfriend potentially might hit you, they're signs that you're being abused. Psychological abuse is something to take just as seriously as physical abuse, it's just as damaging and not something to ignore.

I'm team Jacob :)

So I'm currently re-reading the series with a friend of mine and we are also watching the movies right after we finish the book. So far...

- I still really enjoy Twilight but in a different way. Where at first I was an angtsy teen in love with Edward and thought Bella was so great - now I still like Edward, but Bella annoys the crap out of me.
- I feel more for Jacob now whereas before I was like "ugh go away!" Now I'm like damn Bella you did him wrong, and Edward ughhhh you had to come back! I still love you but ughhh.

- I hate Rosalie. Can the Voluturi just get rid of her?

- I love Emmett and I need a separate story on Alice!

Probably more insight to come. I still have to finish Breaking Dawn and watch the movies. But all I can say is that I kept gagging when Bella was pregnant, where before I thought awww so sweet!

I still love the series as a whole though. I know a lot of people hate on it, but it truely was the gateway book for many people into reading. So I have to be thankful for that.

I love him to the ends of the earth. Edward is the kind of guy I would always want to have. Bella annoys me sometimes because she gets so much and has a lot to chose from and yet, ruins people. Still though, I love that she makes Edward happy so there's that. Jacob, yes he got hurt, but like dude, go away...wasn't he younger than her?

Always loved Edward and still do to this day!

Edward had many flaws he wasn't perfect, he tried his best to do what he believed was the right thing to do in his life. He made so many mistakes and tryed his best to do what was right. I think it was because he was trapped as a 17 year old, that his mind set was a bit childish in his naive nature, but with his many years of life he was an adult and a very understanding and mature man in other ways. Edward was a perfect/imperfect man that most of us love and as I see it that's what makes him so perfect for Bella she was just as equally "human" as him.

Edward is honestly one of my favorite book characters. You should definitely read Life and Death Twilight Reimagined. It goes into the Cullen family background and is just as good as the first books.