OK, Now You're Just Begging for a Fight, Jen

(This post won't make sense if you haven't read the Twilight series.)

I'm halfway through Eclipse and I'm starting to wonder, "Is it just me, or has Edward Cullen kind of turned into a controlling douchebag?"

Discuss.

P.S.  Google turns up 158,000 entries for "I hate Edward Cullen" and 1,240,000 for "I love Edward Cullen."  Clearly I'm in the minority here.

P.P.S.  In case I wasn't clear, TEAM JACOB!

P.P.P.S.  SpellCheck suggests I change the word "douchebag" to "Duesenberg."  For some reason, I find this very, very funny.

Comments

[sheela]

YES. TEAM JACOB.

be careful of breaking dawn. i threw that thing across the room like 20 times while reading it.

worst. baby name. EVER.

[Karen]

La la la la - I have no idea what you guys are talking about but that's OK. Ive just had drinks with my girlfriends and they fought about who gets the "JEN SERIES" first. We talked about Jen all night and I can't wait for my made up "book club meeting" next Wednesday night at the same bar we went to tonight. GO Boston! lol

[Bri]

team edward ;) yes, a little overbearing but c'mon... there are quite a few people looking to kill bella!

i get what you're saying, but by the time you finish the series, i think you'll be on team edward :)

[Julie]

TEAM JACOB.

Breaking Dawn jumps the shark. VERY disappointed. Should've ended with New Moon.

[tesa]

YAY for Jen being on Oprah! What a great surprise!!

[Janelle]

I thought the same thing! He wouldn't let her do anything! I understand that he worries about her but you also need to let the ones you love live their life. I'm Team Jacob all the way!

[Jen P]

LOL I totally thought he turned out to be a crazy stalker LOL

And don't you think Bella is turning out to be the friend you hate. Ignoring her friends for her boyfriend, totally full of "whine"

[KayKay]

When I first read Twilight I was all about Edward ( I mean, he is just so darn PERFECT). And when Bella and Jacob become BFF's I totally switched to Team Jacob. The boy Stephanie Meyer got to Play Jacob is such a cutie too =) The whole cast is great. Robert Pattinson (Who plays Edward) Looks SOOOOOO different in the movies than he does in real life. I think so anyway. But he is a handsome fellow either way. I was a little late on the "Twilight" Train and ended up reading the whole series in 5 days. Yah I know, I need a life.

[Sarbear063]

I just watched Oprah!!!! GO JEN!!!!! You looked phenomenal!!!!!!! WOO-HOO!!!!!!! Maisy is adorable. I loved your cute pink polo. Pink is definitely your color. You go girl.

[Andrea]

Hot Topic is selling "Team Jacob" t-shirts. No joke.

[Kristi]

Someone sure is pretty in pink! :) Thanks for the heads up, Manic Mommy!

[Nettie]

Btw- Team Edward all the way... I'm accepting converts :)

[Nettie]

O.M.G!!!! So not fair!!!! I've been home sick for two days... my mom even calls me to tell me to watch Oprah (I never do) and YOU WERE ON!!!!!!!!!

NO FAIR!!!!!

I still heart you anyway Jen!! :)

[Ally HAll]

TEAM JACOB!?

I'm team Edward all the way! But maybe that's because in Breaking Dawn there is something INCREDIBLY useful that Jacob does that inquires to his passion for Bella currently :]

[HollyG]

Crap. This means I'm gonna have to endure Oprah in order to Maisy... ;-)

[HollyG]

Crap. This means I'm gonna have to endure Oprah in order to Maisy... ;-)

[HollyG]

Crap. This means I'm gonna have to endure Oprah in order to Maisy... ;-)

[Laura]

OK so we totally have an office war between the team Jacob's and team edwards. We may or may not have long rambeling discussions about who is better.

Anyway....

GO TEAM JACOB!

[Liz]

I once dated a Douchebag from a town called Duanesburg...HAHAHA...much funnier in retrospect though.

[Emily]

just wait until you get to New Moon... that really sucks. TEAM JACOB!!!!!

[Amy C]

TEAM EDWARD - but honestly I don't think it is fair to pick. Bella needs both of them in her life. I think that Edward loves Bella with so much passion & intensity that it comes across as controlling. I don't think Bella is a wimpy heroine. She is a big klutz (can totally relate) but she is firm in her decisions. I don't think this spoils anything but even her mom says she has always been an old soul & knows what she wants (not meant to be a direct quote). I guess I feel very defensive because I got married at 18 (yeah - not to a vampire but still) and have been married for 15 years.

[Katie]

Yay for another member of Team Jacob! :)

Is it sad that my best friend and I had raging debates about the pros and cons of Edward vs. Jacob through gmail chat when we should have been working? Hmmm...

[Sarah]

Omg, Amy, I didn't even see that! Jen on OPRAH!?!? Whoa!

[Amy Risner]

Sarah-- I think Jen's recent update pertains to what Manic Mommy posted below (in very large CAPS haha). I want to see this clip!

[Stephanie]

TEAM EDWARD!!!!

He is just protective and that is sexy. He adores Bella.

To me, Jacob is just a whiney brat...wait til you read the rest of the books.

Then read Midnight Sun on Stephenie Meyers website and you will totally fall in love with Edward!!

[Dawggrl]

I have not had a chance to read all of the comments, but I loved all 4 of the books! I thought all of the stories were well crafted and that Breaking Dawn gets a lot of flack when it is a great story.

As for Team Edward or Team Jacob - I am strictly Team Bella! I think it is great that she has found an amazing partner to be with and hope that everyone gets half as lucky!

Jen - LOVE YOUR BOOKS! Keep it up.

K

[Kristen]

TEAM JACOB!!!!!

[Sarah]

Ok, so I know this is the wrong post to be asking about this (so sorry!) but what the heck is Jen talking about in the September 25th post about Maisy and TV and not being allowed to blog about it?!?! It's driving me crazy and Google isn't giving me anything.

[Bee]

I had no interest in reading the books until all the hullabaloo around the release of book 4, so I have finally bowed to the pressure and am now about 3/4 of the way through Twilight. But thanks to all the flair of Facebook, I know how it all ends. So far, I'm intrigued but not wowed. I'm a Harry Potter fan to the bitter end.

[cindy b]

Just keep reading.....

:-)

[Aly]

I couldn't even finish the first book because of how much of a mealy-mouthed twit Bella turned into around Edward. He treated her like a child (creepy). Vampire or not, he's just a guy, for God's sake.

[Katherine]

So, um, I full expect you to delete this comment. But whatevs. Tag. You're it. I guess this means you've been nominated for the Honest Blogger Award. Sorry.

http://whoinventedroses.com/2008/09/25/housekeeping/

[Michelle BB]

I enjoyed the books (perhaps a bit too much) until I read Breaking Dawn, the point at which Meyer "jumped the shark". With Breaking Dawn, it felt to me like Meyer stripped away everything that made the first three books so entertaining and cannot-put-it-down good.

To the question though: I thought Edward and Jacob both came off as controlling, especially in later books, and Bella nothing more than confused and obsessed.

I, personally, am on Team Jasper. I think he's easily the more interesting of the vamps...but again, that insight comes later in the series.

[.nicotine.queen.]

MY SENTIMENTS EXACTLY!!!
I know exactly what part you are at and that's EXACTLY how I felt.

Just keep reading :-)
All will be revealed.

[Lorri]

Edward broke my heart in New Moon and I hadn't fully forgiven by the point you are at in Eclipse either, so I see what you're sayin'. I love Jacob, but I was and remained through the end of the series, Team Edward. Now back to my life as a 39-year-old married mom who should be working right now ...

[Tammy]

Er, Team Jacob that is...

Jeez.

[Tammy]

OK. So, Edward is a controlling douchebag, but Bella lets him control her.

I love that my daughter (15) gets so irritated with Bella not having a life outside of Edward...

Go Team Joseph!

[Paula]

I work as a librarian. I personally enjoy any book or series that gets people excited about reading. For a vampire series, this one is extremely tame. It's more of a teen love story. I think that's why so many parents are supporting it. It's getting a lot of moms and daughters discussing something that's not on TV for a change and opening up the door to read a larger variety of books! As for the mature content...has anyone looked at the books offered in a YA section at the library lately???? It's not for us to decide. That's for the parents.
I agree that some of the aspects of the later series could have been pulled together differently, been a little more cohesive, but, we are not the author. You can feel from early in the second book she begins exploring different characters view points as possible spin-offs. But, please people, it's a book series. This is how she makes her money. I think its funny how we all become "arm chair quarterbacks" with authors thinking we could have done it better. Maybe a few of us out there actually could...Talk to a publisher. I'll make sure I buy your book! As for the characters, I was team Jacob all the way. In real life I prefer my men more rugged than refined...until..(trying not to give away plot lines) the imprint in book 4 that is. Hard to get my mind around that even though I saw it coming. I will have to agree that book 4 does from start to finish have a "tied with a bow" feeling. So...who figures the next book will be Jacobs continuing story?
BTW~ Teen Read Week in October "Books With Bite" features Bella and Edward.
http://www.alastore.ala.org/SiteSolution.taf?_sn=catalog&_pn=product_detail&_op=2616
I liked the series overall. I will see the movie and hope that unlike a lot of books into movies that it stays faithful to the book.
Here is an article about Forks that some of you may be interested in.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/20080922/ap_tr_ge/travel_by_the_book_vampire_tourism

[Jen]

I love EDWARD! I think throughout the whole series she develops Edward and Bella's characters, but abruptly begins to develop Jacob. I don't think readers had the same chance to fall in love with Jacob from the beginning. i still can't believe you don't like Edward!

[Sarah Elizabeth]

I'm done with the whole series and I love Edward. I don't like Jacob. I think he is nice enough, but would not make Bella completly happy.

I always tend to be the girl who likes the bad boys in movies, and roots for the popular pretty girls to have it all and more.

Shallow, I know.

[Kristi Brown]

I stayed up till the crack 'o dawn to finish "New Moon" - which I liked even better than Twilight. The background theme of Romeo & Juliette and what would it have been like with Paris & Juliette is quite an interesting spin. It gets so much more intense and I have to say Edward is like Romeo and Jacob is like Paris. Why settle for the city (Paris) when you can have the empire (Romeo)! That is how I am reading these books. Very fascinating...but now I am reading Bushnell's "One Fifth Avenue". Probably be another long night ; )

[Manic Mommy]

TOTALLY OFF TOPIC BUT I NEVER EVER EVER WATCH OPRAH AND I'M UPSTAIRS FOLDING LAUNDRY, AND I NEVER EVER EVER FOLD LAUNDRY AND WHO IS ON OPRAH ----

YOU !!!!!

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Kelsey]

You know how when the sixth Harry Potter book came out? And there was a huge uproar because Emerson Spartz (owner of mugglenet.com) called all of the Harry/Hermione shippers delusional?

I'm gonna go with the same term can be applied to anyone who is obsessed with the Twilight series, period.

Edward Cullen is an abusive jackass and Bella is a teenage girl who thinks she's in love because for the first time, boys are paying attention to her and she's so ecstatic it engulfs her.

No person (ESPECIALLY a 16 year old girl) should put themselves in a position of being so obsessed (not in love with, they never fell in love) with someone else that you can't function without them.

It sickens me to know that parents allow their children to read these books, or that they become obsessed with them themselves. Is Edward Cullen really a person you'd want to date your daughter, or your 16 year old self? Or Jacob? I don't think either of them have her best interest at heart.

I should probably stop ranting. I just wish Twilight fans would actually consider what they were reading and realize that the characters are the antithesis of ideal.

[Celine]

I agree. TEAM JACOB!!

[Carrie]

Jen I am totally on Team Jacob. As the series goes on, I love him more and more. Although, I also think that its not so much that I don't like Edward, its that I don't like how he makes Bella act. After the first two books, I really don't care for Bella's character anymore. I much prefer Jacob, Alice and Rosalie and wish the Stephanie Klein had elaborated on the background characters a little more!

[Jen]

Yes! Although he gets better as the book goes on. I took more issues w/ Bella being completely obsessed/addicted to Edward. I mean she would flip out if he left her side for a moment. I understand being all head over heels but contain it a bit please!

[JennyW]

OMG I am SO DONE with Twilight. The first book = okay, the rest = crap. It's like the author was so taken aback by the success of the first that suddenly she was pushed to write more and just started pulling stuff out of her ass. Bella is a twit, and any vampire with a century's worth of experience would consider her a light snack & be done with it. Teens who love it? I can deal with. Adults who go apeshit over it? Makes me worry.

[Sarbear063]

Oh! Sorry! I forgot. I LOVE using the word "douchebag", kinda like you love using the word "fucktard", Jen! Cheers to a fucktard douchbag!!!!!! lol!

[sarbear063]

I can only comment on the amount of freaking flair on Facebook that Edward Cullen inspires..I have never read the book(s) but I am impossibly intrigued now, especially because I am entirely addicted to Facebook and all things Facebook. I have a completely pimped put page. You could spend a whole day on my page and not see it all. Kinda like Disney World, but without the $300 hopper.

[Jaime]

Just wait...it gets better...Team Edward all the way baby.....:)