a book report: The Host by Stephenie Meyer

i couldn't help it.
i need to write a review of this book, or what i thought of this book in the short amount of pages i read.
good lord, what was i thinking?

"Featuring what may be the first love triangle involving only two bodies, The Host is a riveting and unforgettable novel that will bring a vast new readership to one of the most compelling writers of our time."

quote taken from Goodreads.com

ugh. again, what was i thinking?
i have a lot of problems with that statement Goodreads.com. a lot!

first off, i should state that i wasn't able to finish this book. i only made it 93 pages in. i really wanted to make at least 100 pages, but i couldn't do it. and i am not going to waste my time reading something that is this dull when i have so many other books i want to read. this book is unfinishable, and i was able to make it through all 3 of the Fifty Shades of Grey books. i can only think of one other book that i couldn't finish, only one!

*spoilers of the first 93 pages. be warned!

going in i thought this book would be a very easy read. boy was i wrong. i've read all her books in the Twilight series and even though i didn't think the books were particularly good, i was slightly addicted to them. i hate to say it, but i fell in love with Edward. ick, what was i thinking? (the statement of this post.) and the Twilight series really didn't have an exciting plot (replace "exciting" with "very weak" and you've got a good starting point), but the story had something in the pages that kept me reading.

The Host had nothing, it was just boring.

i really thought this book had potential. i liked that is was science-fiction, spicing up my reading list. i liked that this book was considered "adult," so i didn't have to deal with the whole typical 16/17-year-old girl character and her virginity that is in a lot of YA books. but in the 93 pages i read, we have a 17-year-old girl throwing herself at a older boy, wanting to have sex, and the older boy not wanting to have sex with the girl (sounds familiar, right?). why does Meyer think girls are throwing themselves at boys and begging them to have sex with them? have a little self respect please. and the really stupid thing is that i liked that about Twilight, the girl wanting the sex and the boy fending her off. but by the third book it got old, boring, and just pathetic. but i digress.

i think the thing i hated the most, was all the memories that Melanie was showing Wanderer. ugh. it just didn't work. i could see how it could translate to film, the flashbacks to Melanie's life. but it just didn't work in the book. it was choppy and irksome. i could also go on and on about how uncreative Meyers is with all the sci-fiction in the book, or how she bit off more than she could chew, but again, i only made it 93 pages. so do i really have a leg to stand on, and more importantly is it worth my time?

i felt like Meyer was trying to prove something with this book. like she, too, could be a "compelling writer of our time," (whatever, boo!). i know that she is an avid reader and loves the classics like Austen and the Bronte sisters, and it felt like she is trying to be a great literary author with this book. she isn't that. sometimes people just need to know their strengths and weaknesses and go from there. that's what Meyer needs to do.

and please, someone, get this women an editor. my kindle has the page count at 620, and Goodreads has the page count at 809. really? bigger is not always better--and i'm from Texas y'all, i should know! all the over the top descriptions does not equal poetic prose. it felt like she had carte blanche to do whatever she wanted, and that she did.

i do believe that this book will make a great movie. the idea of the book is great. i think putting this into the hands of a screenwriter who can clean it up and produce something that i actually can't wait to see on the big screen. enjoy. xoxo.