The Cauldron

Breaking Dawn
by Stephenie Meyer.
MT Books/Little Brown. 756 pp. $22.99
(Warning: contains spoilers!)

I was venturing into unfamiliar territory when I was assigned to read this fourth and final novel of the bestselling vampire/romance "Twilight" series by Stephenie Meyer. The story is replete with werewolf/vampire rivalry, fancy cars and parties and honeymoons, shape-shifting and mind-reading, oddly disturbing sexual tension, and a rather appalling description of the pregnancy of the protagonist Bella. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then full steam ahead - but I'm guessing that Breaking Dawn falls short of the first three novels which drew in millions of readers.

The novel is divided into three books, with the first and last told from the perspective of the young, clumsy and danger-prone Bella Swan and the middle book narrated by her werewolf friend, Jacob Black. Bella Swan and her vampire lover Edward Cullen finally marry, and a rather interesting honeymoon ensues - this is where the odd sexual dynamic surfaces. She becomes pregnant and the vampire-hybrid child drains her to almost the point of death, cracking her ribs and prompting the realization that it requires blood. Bella obliges and feels better. The proxy conflict between the jealous Jacob and husband Edward is reminiscent of junior high, and meanwhile another vampire tribe is in uproar because they have mistakenly heard that Bella's child is an immortal child (If you want to find out more about these creatures and 'vegetarian-vampires,' buy the book).

I'm all for fantasy and magical creatures, being an avid Harry Potter fan myself, but I fail to see why these novels have become so popular. The quality of writing is mediocre (as indicated by the final line of the book, "And then we continued blissfully into this small but perfect piece of our forever") and the characters seem to play into stereotypically (yet somehow also oddly bizarre) sexist roles. Loyal fans have already bought over a million copies, so perhaps this author is just an unappreciative outsider - read it for yourself and see.

The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism by Ron Suskind.
Harper Collins. 415 pp. $27.95.

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Price of Loyalty and The One Percent Doctrine comes another sweeping indictment of the Bush Administration's national security policies and the false pretenses under which it led the nation to war.

The most explosive accusation is, as covered by the media frequently, that the White House ordered the CIA to forge a document linking Saddam Hussein to Al Qaeda before going to war in 2003. He also describes how information from a top Iraqi intelligence official, which refuted the existence of any weapons of mass destruction, was ignored.

A deliberate attempt to maximize executive power and reduce accountability was made in particular by Dick Cheney, and Suskind traces this evolution. The White House has been quick to dismiss the claims, saying that Suskind "has chosen to dwell in the netherworld of bizarre conspiracy theories," a response that is interesting considering that the notion that the Administration deliberately misled the American public into going to war is quite uncontroversial, and certainly not bizarre.

Beyond the insights into the actions and policies of the administration, Suskind describes various people around the world, such as a UN refugee commissioner in Darfur, attempting to restore human values and moral sensibility in an age where the United States has failed to do so. He waxes a tad idealistic at times, and the connection between these people and the central claim of his book is arguably quite a stretch - but for anyone hoping to gain insight into the inner-workings of a highly secretive and unaccountable administration, Suskind delivers the goods.

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