I read. A lot. Not constantly, but I’d bet I’ve read more than the average high schooler. My favorite book that I have read (excluding the Harry Potter series because that’s more than a book, it’s life) is “The Host” by Stephanie Meyer.
It may be surprising that the same author who mind-birthed the infamous “Twilight” series could also create something worthy to be called anyone’s favorite book. But she has really created magic with this novel.
“The Host” follows the story of Wanderer, a parasitic alien that has inhabited human Melanie Stryder’s body for the intents and purposes of living a human lifespan before disposing of her “host” to move on to the other alien life forms she has yet to try out. Of course, nothing ever goes as planned, because why write a book about something happening exactly the way everyone thought it would in the beginning? As the novel progresses, Wanderer learns what it’s like to be human, thanks to our dog-gone emotions and a “resistant host”, and finds herself underground in a cavern filled with people that hate her and want to shove her down a river of boiling water.
As an avid fan of the book, of course I went to the midnight premiere of the movie. I will admit to being close to tears the first time I saw the preview for the movie last year, and have not stopped thinking about it since. But after Wanderer wanders underground, the movie really doesn’t satisfy me.
It’s a good movie, and it seems to get the point across fine. But it lacks the character development for any of the other characters. The host of the Wanderer doesn’t build a relationship with Uncle Jeb, Ian, Jamie, Jared, Kyle, or Doc well enough for you as a viewer to appreciate what Meyer is teaching Wanderer about what makes humans so different: love. Not just mushy-gushy-kissy love, but family relationships, friendships, any time two humans care about each other.
In my personal opinion, the best way the Directors could have fixed this problem would be to develop the rest of the characters besides Melanie and Wanderer. Ian, Uncle Jeb, Jamie, Jared; you don’t have the chance to grow to love any of these characters as Wanderer does. Don’t get me wrong, I think they did a great job on the movie and I understand that there are too many pages to fit into 2 hours, I had some personal hangups. Trust me, if you’re interested at all after watching the movie, it would be worth it to crack open Stephanie Meyer’s The Host.
Anonymous • Apr 19, 2013 at 11:19 am
I thought the article was great. For the person above, if you didn’t “wish to be rude.” Then you shouldn’t have written such a rude message on this girl’s article.
The Critic Critic • Apr 17, 2013 at 8:46 am
I do not wish to be rude, but this article is pretty lacking in depth. You don’t do a good job. I think you need to get better.
Ok, if you didn’t get my joke already, this article is very bland due to the fact that you, for one, an uninteresting first paragraph that does not hook the reader, unconvincing since there are probably 20 other kids in this school who have “read more than the average Highschooler”, not to mention, you hardly go into detail about anything else you’ve read other than highly overrated novels for young teens, and you tell us more about the story than whatever is good or bad about the film. Despite all of your complaints, you conclude that the film is very good. For some reason, you tell the reader that they should watch the movie after watching it, or read the book. In that case, you hardly review the movie, and you are just telling the read to read the book. One more thing, you excuse the film by claiming it had too much to fit in 2 hours, despite the fact that Breaking Dawn was unnecessarily split into two. I hope you don’t see me as trying to be rude just to pick on somebody, but if you want to write, Stephanie Meyer shouldn’t be your role model.