Tainted Love

A few weeks ago we had a book come in that caused quite a stir here at Goldsboro Books. With its completely unanticipated popularity we had sold out of our special edition in the first week and, with the film trailer now being released (awesome) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5djHG3hPu0, I was curious to see what all the hype was about. The book was I Am Number Four and having found myself a copy I read it in no more than two hours, which should give you some clue as to what I thought about it. When I was reading it I was engrossed and when I put it down all I wanted to be doing was reading it. This book, with it's vivid imagery and fantastic plot practically begged to be put into film.

But no matter how much I liked it, it did get me thinking about something that has bugged me since reading Twilight, obsessive love in young adult fiction. In I Am Number Four the lead character - John/Number Four finds a love interest in Sarah Hart and from that point on they are almost inseperable, combined with how young the two characters are this concerns me a little, are we teaching teenagers that this is a love they should aspire to at such a young age? Thankfully I Am Number Four does a lot to waylay my concerns on this point because it addresses the problem of letting your partner become your whole life (in the explanation of why Sarah broke up with her ex) and presents a picture of something that could be seen as quite healthy (no jealousy etc.) but I still can't help worrying about it. I also can't help worrying about my mental state; Am I just getting old? Can't I remember what having a first love was like at that age? Why am I even so angry about this? Well, I thought I'd analyse it for your benefit.

I was visiting my family a few weeks ago and to my absolute horror my fourteen-year-old cousin announced that she was looking for a love like Bella and Edward's in Twilight, what? I think my jaw actually dropped to the floor. To have my intelligent, independent doesn't-follow-the-crowd cousin say this to me was like being punched in the stomach, it disturbs me. Let's just think about this a moment, Bella has no real friends to speak of, no life outside of Edward and her only ambition is to become a vampire so she might live an eternal life with him - I wouldn't really want anyone thinking that this was OK, let alone something to aspire to. This isn't just seen in young adults either, I read an article where women had broken up with their partners purely because their love wasn't like the love in Twilight. Call me a cynic but this is real life, not Stephanie Meyer's dream! In real life you don't fall in love with someone without any justification and they certainly don't fall in love with you because your blood smells tasty. What's really disturbing though is that if these grown women can abandon reason for fiction then what chance to teenagers have?

If I'm honest with myself this lunacy isn't entirely what's worrying me, it's more that in my mind obessive love is dangerous - if you're willing to let your partner treat you in any way they want for the all-consuming love you aspire to - how far will you go? And where would you turn once you've abandoned all your friends and family for this love? It bothers me that we are showing teenagers that this is OK, that such an intense love is a good thing.

This whole thing annoys me to the point of distraction but I'm not saying ban the books, I'm not a Nazi, what I would like to do though is find out what other people think, so come on - give us a comment, do you agree? What would you do about it if anything? Did you enjoy I Am Number Four? Are you here to tell me that you have, in fact, fallen in love with someone because their blood smelt good? Either way let me know and let's see where this goes... Nicola.