David Rauschenbach

My daughter fell onto her head out of a 2nd story window, and I found myself having several days to kill while in the hospital. Two of my nieces lived with my wife and I for several years, and they are all into Twilight, a #1 New York Times bestselling piece of fiction. I gave it a whirl, in order to better keep my finger on the female pulse of America. It was pretty good, and about 90% in line with my world view, if taken metaphorically, even though I don't believe in living physical vampires. Nevertheless, the book was pretty good, and was only tainted by a few sections of immature "I love you more than you love me" nonsense.

Just for fun, I tried to catalog the themes that made it a grand slam with its audience:

• The author is a very good writer, and keeps her characters well defined and on their mark.
• The author made the heroine of the story perfectly honest, incredibly perceptive, and humble in spirit (strong in character, weak in body). This enables one to sympathize.
• It is a gushing romance, where the woman not only wants to get swept off her feet, but who also does not care whether it kills her. Some songwriters call this strange phenomenon "sex is death", but I do not pretend to understand it. It has something to do with flirting with danger, and flushing personal responsiblity down the toilet. I think this is what my sis calls "victim consciousness". In that sense, it is sad that this appeals to the masses, and I see it as an indicator of the degenerate nature and helpless spirit of our present society.