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| name = Breaking Dawn
| name = Breaking Dawn
| title_orig =GTFO
| title_orig =GTFO
| translator =
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| image = [[Image:Breaking Dawn cover.jpg|200px|Stephenie Meyer's ''Breaking Dawn'']]
| image = [[Image:Breaking Dawn cover.jpg|200px|Stephenie Meyer's ''Breaking Dawn'']]
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Revision as of 15:58, 22 December 2008

Breaking Dawn
Stephenie Meyer's Breaking Dawn
AuthorStephenie Meyer
Original titleGTFO
Translatoranon
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SeriesTwilight series
GenreParanormal romance, young-adult fiction
PublisherLittle, Brown and Company
Publication date
August 2, 2008 (USA)
August 4, 2008 (UK, AUS)
Media typePrint
Pages756
ISBNISBN 031606792X Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character
Preceded byEclipse 

Breaking Dawn is the fourth novel in the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. It is the last novel of the Twilight saga to be told from Bella Swan's perspective. Divided into three "books", or sections, all but Book 2 are told from the perspective of Bella Swan, with the second being told from the point of view of Jacob Black. Breaking Dawn was released on August 2, 2008 with a special midnight release party in many bookstores.[1] From its initial print run of 3.7 million copies, 1.3 million were sold in the first 24 hours of its release, setting a record in first-day sales performance for the Hachette Book Group USA.[2]

Publication history

The title, Breaking Dawn, is a reference to the beginning of Bella's life as a vampire. The cover is a metaphor for Bella's progression throughout the entire saga; she began as the physically weakest player on the board, the pawn, but ended up the strongest, the queen.[3] The plays The Merchant of Venice and A Midsummer Night's Dream both influenced Breaking Dawn. Originally, Meyer wrote a book titled Forever Dawn, which was a direct sequel to Twilight.[4] While the basic storyline stayed the same, Forever Dawn was narrated completely from Bella's point of view, the werewolves and Jacob were "only sketchily developed", Victoria and Laurent were both alive, and there was an epilogue.[3] Meyer goes on to say that she "may post some extras someday if I ever have time to go back through the Forever Dawn manuscript—it's just as long as Breaking Dawn. There are a couple of things that family members told me they particularly missed, so I would start there."

In regard to Renesmee's unique name, Meyer wrote that she "couldn't call her Jennifer or Ashley. What do you name the most unique baby in the world? I looked through a lot of baby name websites. Eventually I realized that there was no human name that was going to work for me, so I surrendered to necessity and made up my own."[3] Meyer decided on including the pregnancy in her story while she was researching vampires and came across the legend of the incubus, a demon who could father children.[3]

Meyer states in regard to ending the series that:

"The Twilight Saga is really Bella's story, and this was the natural place for her story to wind up. She overcame the major obstacles in her path and fought her way to the place she wanted to be. I suppose I could try to prolong her story unnaturally, but it wouldn't be interesting enough to keep me writing. Stories need conflict, and the conflicts that are Bella-centric are resolved."[3]

Plot summary

The story begins with the revelation that Seattle is being plagued by a string of unsolved murders, which Edward suspects are being caused by a newborn vampire that is unable to control its thirst. Edward and Bella fill out college applications, while Bella explains to Edward her desire to see Jacob, her werewolf friend, again. Meanwhile, Alice Cullen has a vision that Victoria, a vampire who is hunting Bella, is back in town. Although Edward fears for her safety, Bella insists that Jacob and the rest of the werewolf pack would never harm her, and he eventually allows her to visit Jacob once in a while.

A few days later, Bella expresses her desire to have Edward make love to her before turning her into a vampire. Edward initially refuses, explaining to Bella that he could very easily kill her. Eventually, upon realizing how much it means to Bella, he agrees to try in the future as long as they are married first. Despite having an aversion to marriage, Bella realizes that spending eternity with Edward is more important to her than anything else and accepts his proposal.

Bella and the Cullens realize that the murders in Seattle are being committed by Victoria and an "army" of newborn vampires. The Cullen family joins forces with the werewolf pack in order to combat this threat. As everyone else prepares for battle, Edward and Bella camp up in the mountains, where they are later joined by Jacob and Seth Clearwater, a young member of the werewolf pack, to wait out the fight.

In the morning, Jacob overhears Edward and Bella discussing their engagement and becomes very upset. He threatens to join the fight and get himself killed because Bella doesn't love him. To stop him, Bella kisses Jacob and realizes that she loves him, too. After Victoria and her army are successfully destroyed, Bella explains to Jacob that while she loves him, her love for Edward is greater and she cannot live without him. Jacob, angry at Bella's decision to become a vampire, runs away in his wolf form to escape the pain he feels.

Marketing and release

Entertainment Weekly magazine released an excerpt of Breaking Dawn on May 30, 2008.[5] Stephenie Meyer also revealed a 'Quote of the Day' from Breaking Dawn for about three weeks prior to its August 2, 2008 release. The first quote was released on Stephenie's website on July 12, 2008.[6] The first chapter of Breaking Dawn, "Engaged", was released in the special edition of Eclipse.[1] Breaking Dawn was officially released on August 2, 2008 with a special midnight release in many bookstores.[1] Godiva also released a Twilight themed chocolate bar, which was released in Barnes & Noble book stores for the release party.[7] A four-city Breaking Dawn Concert Series, featuring Stephenie Meyer and Blue October's Justin Furstenfeld, coincided with the novel's release. The concert series sold out three of its four locations on the day that tickets went on sale,[8] selling out in under an hour in one city.[9]

Reception

Breaking Dawn has received generally negative reviews. Publishers Weekly stated that the main problem was that "Essentially, everyone gets everything they want, even if their desires necessitate an about-face in characterization or the messy introduction of some back story. Nobody has to renounce anything or suffer more than temporarily--in other words, grandeur is out."[10] In an article by The Associated Press journalist Sara Rose posted on NewsOK.com wrote that fans of the series would love "engaging characters, great humor, a distracting obsession with beauty, focus on the minutiae of emotions", however "casual readers may be disappointed with a lot of build-up and little action."[11] Entertainment Weekly graded Breaking Dawn with a D, criticizing the birth scene and Bella's "unwavering passion for Edward" and having no other goals.[12] Denise Martin of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "Stephenie Meyer is no J.K. Rowling" and that in the "final chapters, in which both authors really swung for the epic, Meyer’s bunted."[13] The Washington Post also responded with a negative review, making comments such as, "...Meyer has put a stake through the heart of her own beloved creation," and, "Breaking Dawn has a childbirth sequence that may promote lifelong abstinence in sensitive types."[14] However, an article in The Daily News Tribune, a small town newspaper, Margaret Smith says of Breaking Dawn "You too might fall in love with its suspense and moving sensitivity -- and with the unlikely couple struggling to find light within their world’s heart of darkness."[15]

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Meyer responded to the negative response of many fans to the book and called it the "Rob Effect"; she believes that the fans need time to accept the ending of Breaking Dawn, just as they needed time to accept Robert Pattinson playing the role of Edward in the Twilight movie.[16]

Film potential

Currently, there are no official plans for a Breaking Dawn film. However, Summit Entertainment, who created the film adaptation of the first novel, Twilight, announced in November 2008 that they had obtained the rights to the rest of the books in Meyer's series, including Breaking Dawn.[17] Meyer stated in her Breaking Dawn FAQ that if one were to be created, it would have to be made into two movies because "it's hard to imagine it fitting into ninety minutes. The book is just so long! I can't imagine how to distill it—if I could, the book would be shorter".[3] She also believes it may be impossible to film due to Renesmee, writing that an actress could not play her because she is a baby but has complete awareness, and that "the one thing that I've never seen is a CGI human being who truly looks real"; however, she went on to state that "they develop amazing new technologies everyday, and we've got a little time left".[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Breaking Dawn Release Party". StephenieMeyer.com. Retrieved 2008-09-07.
  2. ^ Jim Milliot (2008-08-04). "'Breaking Dawn' Breaks Hachette Records". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2008-10-18.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "Breaking Dawn FAQ". StephenieMeyer.com. Retrieved 2008-09-07.
  4. ^ "Forever Dawn". StephenieMeyer.com. Retrieved 2008-09-07.
  5. ^ "EW.com Excerpt". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2008-09-07.
  6. ^ "Breaking Dawn Quotes". StephenieMeyer.com. Retrieved 2008-09-07.
  7. ^ "Twilight Chocolate". MTV. Retrieved 2008-09-07.
  8. ^ Elizabeth Fox (2008-07-29). "'Twilight's' last gleaming". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2008-09-10.
  9. ^ Maxine Shen (2008-07-13). ""Twilight" vamps it up". New York Post. Retrieved 2008-09-10.
  10. ^ "Publisher's Weekly review". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2008-09-07.
  11. ^ "NewsOK.com article". NewsOK.com. Retrieved 2008-09-07.
  12. ^ "EW Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2008-09-07.
  13. ^ "LA Times Review". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-09-07.
  14. ^ "Washington Post Review". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-09-07.
  15. ^ "Daily News Tribune review". The Daily News Tribune. Retrieved 2008-09-07.
  16. ^ "Reponse to Reaction". EW.com. Retrieved 2008-09-07.
  17. ^ Zeitchik, Steven (2008-11-14). "'Twilight' film franchise looks ahead". Retrieved 2008-12-13. The Hollywood Reporter

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Breaking Dawn.
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